Your Fate is Your Choice
by Midnyght Saber
Summary: Story idea from Werewolf of Suburbia - When Danny outs himself to the citizens of Amity Park, he never expects them to call in the Guys in White. Now, he's on a cross-country run from the law.
1. Ichi

**Disclaimer: **_Danny Phantom _and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc.

* * *

I am sorry that this story took so long to get written. I meant to be done with this, as well as the other four Hearkenings, a while ago, but my life has just been one long string of stuff coming up when it was least expected. Hopefully, I can get my rear in gear and actually get all of my work out there by the end of the year, though I'm figuring a bit of what I'm doing is going to bleed over into 2011. Here's to hoping nothing ELSE interferes with my life. Last year was bad enough.

**Werewolf of Suburbia**, thanks so much for the review to my story all that time ago. Here's the end result of your submission.

* * *

**チプターイチ**

An hour had passed since Danny's surprise visitor had come and gone, and in that hour, a decision had been made. If this entity was as strong as Wulf had led him to believe, Danny was in for a massive fight. Anything able to completely level the entire western wing of the prison had to have been powerful, and with twenty ghosts released alongside him, there was the ever-present risk of them coming to Amity Park, especially with the Fenton Portal downstairs being a free pass into the human world.

Walking downstairs, it barely surprised him that his mother was still the only other person home, and she smiled towards him as he plopped down at the table. "Hungry?"

"A little," Danny answered, apprehensive about what he was about to do. "Mom, I have a question."

"What is it?" Maddie asked, turning away from the grilled cheese sandwich she was preparing.

"If someone you knew had a really big secret that they were keeping, what would you do if they told you?"

Maddie flipped the sandwich before answering. "I'd want to know why they kept it, and why they trust me with it. After that, it's all a matter of what the secret has to deal with, and if they need help with it."

"And if it had to do with ghosts?"

"Why? Have you seen a ghost lately?" Maddie would have never expected this topic to come up with her son, but if the door opened on it, she was willing to look inside.

"Actually, yeah, Mom, I have."

"Anything special about it?" she asked, sliding the sandwich onto a plate and resting the pan on the stove to cool. She poked the sandwich with the spatula, slicing it in half, before tossing the spatula into the sink to wash.

Danny swallowed against the fear and the hatred for the name he was about to use, and answered his mother, waiting just long enough for her to put the plate down in front of him, so as to prevent her from dropping it. "It was Inviso-Bill."

Maddie was immediately on the defensive. "What did he do to you? Are you hurt? Did he bother you? What happened?"

"Nothing happened, Mom. It's not like that...it's...it's hard to explain." Danny nudged his plate. "I guess the best way to say this would be that I saw him in the mirror."

"So he was floating outside your room and just...poof?"

Danny lowered his head. "Not exactly. I kind of meant something with asking about that secret thing earlier." Looking up at his mother, his radiant emerald eyes found his mother's startled lavender ones. "After the accident in the lab a while back...I found out I was like this. I tried to do what I could to keep the town safe, but...I haven't done a very good job, have I?" His eyes returned to their normal sapphire, and he couldn't help but feel the pang of tears gripping at his eyes. "I've put so many people in danger when all I wanted to do was help and make a difference in this town."

Maddie, suddenly lost between her scientific need to understand and her motherly affection for her son, could do nothing for a moment but lower herself into the seat nearest her, gazing thoughtfully at her son, emotions intermingled between hatred for the ghost and sympathy for her child.

"And before you ask, Mom, no, he doesn't have me overshadowed. I _am_ Inviso-Bill, though prefer the name Danny Phantom."

Finally finding her voice, Maddie uttered a single word - "Why?"

"Why did I walk into the portal or why did I hide the ghost thing from you and Dad?"

"Both, I guess."

"Well, Sam told me that it would be cool to find out what was in the next world, and we all figured that nothing would happen because it didn't work. I put on the suit you and Dad got for me, went in, and while I was inside the portal, my hand hit a button on the wall and...well, bam, I got electrocuted, for lack of a better word, and the ectoplasm from the Zone must have been..."

"Bonded with your human genetics," Maddie finished. "That was a theory Jack and I were working on during our college years, but it fell through after Vlad's accident. We honestly didn't think it was possible for the two energies to maintain the required homeostasis to keep a person alive."

Danny smiled faintly, nudging apart the two halves of his sandwich. "As for why I kept it a secret...I didn't want you and Dad to use me as an experiment, or dissect me or anything like that. You two are so into this ghost hunting thing that I thought you'd...forget I was your son since I'm...sort of not anymore."

Maddie stood up and walked over to her son, kneeling down as she took him into her arms. "Danny, despite the way we act, you're still our son, no matter what happens to you or what you do with your life. You should have told us about this, though. There's so many things that could happen to you because of this."

"A lot has already happened, Mom. You have no idea how many ghosts I have to fight on a weekly basis, and how much I really hate that I do. I want to help make a difference, but I want to be myself, to be Danny Fenton for a while, and that's really hard when I have so much I have to do to protect this town and those I'm close to."

"And I can fully understand that kind of mindset, but you've done a lot of bad things, too, Danny, and that's what I don't understand. We didn't raise you to be that way, and there's only so much that being a ghost can steal from you." Maddie pulled the chair around the table so that she could sit next to her son.

"That's the issue, though. I didn't do half the stuff I'm being blamed for." Danny pushed his plate aside, letting his head fall against the table. "I knew you wouldn't understand."

Maddie rubbed her son's back gently, feeling his body shake with restrained anger, through the target of his rage was unclear to her. Reaching around his slight frame, she held him close to her, running her hand over his hair like she'd done so often when he was younger. Memories of his youth flashed through her mind at that notion, and Danny, similarly caught in the web of comforting reminiscence, slid over into his mother's grip, resting his head on her shoulder. "Shh, sweetie, it's okay. It's not that we don't understand, it's just that we...we don't..." Reality struck Maddie hard, and she patted Danny on the back slightly. "We were so busy with being ghost hunters that we never really paid attention to what was going on. We should have noticed this about you long before now, Danny, and I'm sorry that we have been so...horrible towards you."

Waves of guilt claimed Maddie's mind, the images of her own son staring at the business end of a piece of Fenton weaponry coming forcefully to her mind, and she bit down on her lower lip to keep from crying out. Once she'd gotten her own emotions under control, she stroked Danny's back softly. "I know this sounds weird coming from me, Danny, but I need you to tell me everything about this ghost thing. I don't want to test you, I just want to know what's going on with you."

"What about Dad? He's been wanting to tear me apart for the longest..."

"Don't worry about your father. I'll handle him. Just...here, eat your lunch, and we can start talking about this once you've finished eating."

- - - - -

Walking down into the lab, Danny thrust his hands into his pockets, more than concerned about telling his father. His mother had taken it well enough, but he was still worried about how Jack, the more ghost-centric one, would take it, and that was nothing comparative to the fact that his sister hadn't known about this...

Finally reaching the bottom stair, Danny looked up, a sinking feeling taking over his stomach as he saw his family sitting down in the lab by one of the computer banks. None of them had even noticed his entry, and he figured that getting this over with was better than standing around like a lout.

"What's up?" he asked, the nervousness he was feeling evident as his voice broke slightly.

The three Fentons turned their attention away from the computer screen that Maddie had been working at, and Jack mustered up a smile before standing and taking his son into his arms. No words were exchanged, but Danny knew that whatever happened to him, his parents were behind him one hundred percent.

Pulling away, Danny looked over at his sister, waiting for her reaction to the news. When she met his eyes, he saw something in them that he couldn't identify, and it worried him that she was hiding something, either from him or from their parents. Shunning the thought aside, he faced his father. "So, what's going on?"

"Danny, my boy, your mother and I were talking, and we...we'd like to see just what you're capable of, and if it's okay, run a couple of tests."

Maddie stood and walked over to her son as she saw the look of panic cross his face. "It's nothing serious, Danny, we just need a blood sample from your human form and ectoplasm from your ghost form. We need to make sure that the anomaly in your system isn't going to present a risk to you later on. Just that, and nothing else. Nothing invasive."

Danny relaxed slightly, feeling the familiar soothing warmth of his mother's hand on his shoulder. "Okay, I guess."

Sitting down on a nearby chair, Danny looked away as his mother drew a sample of blood, his eyes catching the receding form of his sister as she headed upstairs. Worry renewed in his mind that his sister was hiding something, and Danny silently pleaded that it wasn't something to do with their parents…if they were using this as a ruse to capture him...

Shaking his head, Danny ran the fingers of his free hand through his hair. "I know this has all been a lot to take in over a really short amount of time, but what would you say if I told you that there was another half-ghost like me?"

Jack and Maddie glanced at each other for a moment before Jack shrugged. Maddie turned to her son, and she bit her lip before speaking, her voice low and soft. "Who is it?"

"Vlad," Danny answered plainly. "He's been using his powers since he found out the accident gave him those abilities. He's taken over companies by overshadowing the owners, robbed banks because no one can see him when he's invisible, and he's spent the last twenty years trying to figure out how to kill Dad just because he thinks that Dad stole you away from him. He's been trying to get me to join him ever since the class reunion trip, when he found out I was hybrid. I've just never been able to say anything because he threatened my exposure if I ever told you what he was."

Jack immediately went into overprotective father mode. "If he even thinks about harming one hair on any of our heads, he will pay! Nobody hurts my family and gets away with it, even if they were my friend!"

Danny raised his free hand in what looked to be either a calming manner or the international symbol of surrender. "Dad, hold up. I get where you're coming from, but I've had my fair share of beatings from Vlad. He's no pushover, and he knows how to counter Fenton weaponry. He's been designing his own for some time now."

"Even more of a reason that I wouldn't mind tearing him apart, molecule by molecule," Jack answered.

Maddie looked over at her husband. "Jack, right now, we need to focus on Danny. The idiot ex-friend can wait." Turning back to her son, she tilted her head to the side in an inquiring gaze. "So, what is it like, being part ghost?"

Danny thought about it a moment before answering. "It's…weird, to say the least. When I transform, it's like the world pulled back a few layers of gauze or something from me. Every sense is hyper-aware, and things that just looked normal to me before are snapped into stark contrast with the rest of the world surrounding it." Danny rested a hand against his chest. "My heart slows down to only about three or four beats a minute, and I can manage nearly an hour or so without having to breathe. Hunger and thirst don't affect me in that form, but if my human body needs something, it hits like a ton of bricks when I change back."

"So you're in full control of yourself in that form?"

"For the most part," Danny answered softly, his hand immediately going to the back of his neck.

Danny's sign of nervousness raised a number of red flags for Maddie, and she ran her fingers over his hair before drawing the needle out of Danny's other arm, having collected five vials of blood during their talk. Drawing the needle out, she was shocked to see a coil of vibrant green energy course over his arm, and when it vanished, the small hole left by the needle had disappeared completely. "What…?" she asked, stunned.

"I heal really quickly because of my powers. It's kind of a necessary ability, considering all that's happened to me over the last few months. If I didn't heal as fast as I do, I'd have been hospitalized on numerous occasions, if not killed in action." Danny winced at the look of horror that crossed his mom's face. "Sorry."

"Don't be," she replied. "Like I said before, we should have noticed this about you long before now." She let her eyes pass over him once before mustering the strength to ask about his earlier motion. "What did you mean by saying that you're only in control for the most part?"

Danny hung his head. "The…thing with Freakshow recently. It showed me just how weak I really am in that form. He barely had to think about using the orb on his staff, and I was a mindless servant to his whims. It nearly cost Sam and Tucker their lives because I couldn't fight against the mind control."

Jack looked over at his son. "If you're that concerned about other people, why do you even let Tucker and Sam hang around you when you go…hunt ghosts?" Jack blinked, his mind still trying to get around the idea that a ghost hunted other ghosts, but seeing as the ghost was both his son and still half-human, it made for a slight degree of understanding.

"Tucker and I have been tight since day one, and Sam wouldn't let up if I told her I wanted her to stay away. Neither one of them really cares about themselves as much as they do about me, and it kind of scares me. I mean, if something ever happened to them, I don't know what I'd do, seeing as it would be mostly my fault." Danny looked to his mother. "Am I right in letting them stay at my side, or should I be keeping them away during the fights?"

"All I can say to that is it's their choice, though I sincerely doubt that the Mansons would approve of Sam taking part in those kinds of activities."

"The Mansons don't approve of Sam breathing without them saying it's okay," Danny muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Maddie asked, preparing another set of vials.

"The Mansons really don't approve of Sam being the way she is, let alone being around me and hunting ghosts. Tucker's folks may be a bit more understanding, but let Sam's parents find out what we do after school and they'd roast me over an open pit." Danny looked at his shoes, concerned with his father's relative silence. "Dad, you haven't really said much about all this. Are you okay with…with what I am?"

"Honestly, Danny, most of me doesn't even know how to respond to the fact that my son is halfway dead, let alone the fact that your mother and I have been after you like crazed bloodhounds. Had we ever gotten our hands on you in ghost form, I don't want to know what we would have done, and it scares me senseless to think that I could be that cruel and…to be that way to my own flesh and blood." Jack looked over at the vials of blood, watching as the red cells drifted downward, the plasma starting to separate and hover on the top of the vials, flecks of green flashing through the fluid. "Part of me wants to jump for joy now that we have actual living proof of the human-ghost interface theory we were working on in college, but the rest of me is beating me up for the way I've treated you."

Maddie readied the first of the new set of vials. "Danny, could you be a dear and…change for me so I can get the ectoplasm samples?"

"Sure," Danny replied, standing and closing his eyes. Still nervous about all of this, Danny took a deep breath to calm himself, reaching for the frozen center buried within him, unleashing the phantasm within.

Jack and Maddie watched in muted awe as a pair of bioluminescent blue-white rings snapped into place around Danny's waist, moving away from each other and changing their son's appearance right before their eyes. T-shirt and jeans were replaced with the black haz-mat suit they'd known Inviso-Bill to wear, and black hair bleached white, his eyes glimmering green as he opened them.

Knowing that his mother was going to need to find a vein to gather the ectoplasm samples, Danny reached for the zipper of his jumpsuit, pulling the tab down and removing the suit from his upper body. As his mother neared him, he saw her shiver slightly, and he averted his eyes from her as he sat down. "Sorry. I tend to drop the room temperature a little in this form."

"It's okay, Danny," she replied, taking the same arms she'd drawn the blood from and feeling for a vein. With such a severely slowed pulse, it was nearly impossible for her to feel the blood vessel beneath her finger, but after a few minutes of feeling around for the faint pulsation beneath her fingers, Maddie punctured his arm again with a fresh needle, green ooze sliding into the vial she had attached to the syringe. It took a longer time for the vials to fill, and this was spent in an eerie silence, Danny seemingly afraid to talk to them. Maddie had heard the echo in his voice, and she mentally slapped herself for not hearing her son's voice under that ethereal resonance, so clear to her now that she knew his secret.

As the fifth and final vial was filled, Maddie pulled the needle from her son's arm, watching once more as the ghostly energy moved over the small incision, healing the wound before her very eyes. The same lighted rings moved over his form once again, leaving the human Danny Fenton sitting in the seat.

Pulling his legs up into the seat and folding them under him, Danny hazarded a glance at his parents. "You know, I always thought that the first few days after you two found out would be a pile of questions or tests, depending on how you took the news. I'm a little surprised at how…reserved you two are."

Maddie and Jack exchanged a quick glance, and Jack was the first to crack a smile. "We really don't know what to say…or where to begin, for that matter. I mean, I don't know for sure about your mother, but right now, there are so many questions running around in my head that I don't even know which ones I should ask and in what order."

Maddie nodded. "It's the same way with me. There's so much that I want to know, but I don't want it to seem like we're turning you into our guinea pig. You are our son, after all."

"Not really," Danny replied. "My genetic code has been all screwed up and screwed with because of the accident. Technically, I'm not anyone's son at this point."

Jack shook his head. "By blood and genes or not, you're still our son. Your mother spent nine months carrying you, and we've spent the last fifteen years raising you, so don't start any of that 'I'm not the Danny Fenton you gave birth to' fooey. Neither of us want to hear that kind of nonsense."

Danny couldn't help the smile that graced his face, and he felt his nerves finally begin to settle, feeling much more at ease around his parents now that they'd gotten at least a few things out in the open.

"So, what can you do?" Maddie asked. "Besides the basics, like flying and turning invisible."

Danny leaned forward slightly, mentally pouring over the abilities he'd learned since he'd acquired his powers. "Well, I can walk through solid objects, and I can manipulate my ghost energy into beams. I can turn myself and anything I come into contact with intangible or invisible, and…It would be easier to show you, wouldn't it?"

- - - - -

"Jazz?" Danny asked, knocking lightly on her bedroom door. "Can I come in?"

"One second, Danny," came the reply, and he closed his eyes, letting his ears take over. Amidst the sounds of moving cloth, likely her getting off the bed, he heard the faint flutter of paper, which meant that Jazz had either been writing in her journal or reading one of their mother's ghost psychology books. A muffled thud reached his ears, and he opened his eyes, not wanting to appear as if he'd been snooping. "Okay, little brother."

Pushing the door, Danny walked in, head bowed, feeling unable to bring his eyes to bear on his sister. The last member of the family he would talk to was the one that seemed most distant since he'd let them all in on his secret. "Jazz, about what's been going on today…"

"I know," she answered.

"Yeah, I realize that. I just wanted to let you…"

Jazz stopped him once more. "No, Danny, I don't mean I know in the sense of you talking to Mom and Dad today. I mean it in the sense of I've known you were Danny Phantom. I've been doing what I can behind the scenes, trying to keep Mom and Dad from realizing that you're out every night, beating the tar out of whatever spook happens to cross your path."

"How long have you known?"

"Since the Spectra thing. I figured it wasn't for me to push you to tell me, that it would be easier on you if you came to me about this and let me know. I'm just confused about why you waited so long to talk."

Danny huffed. "If you could live my life for one day, I think you'd understand why I was always afraid of talking to anyone about it." He looked away for a moment before his eyes turned to the carpet between his shoes once more.


	2. Ni

**Disclaimer: **_Danny Phantom _and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc.

* * *

**チプターニ**

"You did _what_!?" Sam yelled, and both Tucker and Danny ducked their heads slightly at her outburst.

"I figured it was the right thing to do. All of this is starting to get out of hand, and especially with what happened with Freakshow…" Danny shuddered at the thought. "I need help, and in the end, what would it hurt to find out? My parents have always been willing to put up with me and all the weird stuff I did or got into growing up, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to hope they'd be able to handle me being half-ghost."

Tucker shrugged. "I have to second that, Sam. Parents that aren't like yours are like that."

"It's not my fault that I was born to a family of rich, snobby socialites," Sam snapped back.

"I never said it was, but it has made you predisposed to thinking the worst of someone's folks," Danny pointed out.

"So what if it does? Sometimes, it's better that way."

"How is using your parents as a litmus test better? You're comparing people to an abnormal idea of what it means to be a parent. Besides, Sam, you're the one that told me not to talk to my parents at all because…"

Sam cut him off. "Hey, wait a minute. Tucker agreed with me on that point."

"Yeah, but he was nowhere near as vocal about hiding what the accident turned me into as you were. That aside, my parents have agreed to set up a public meeting at the end of the week."  
Sam and Tucker both looked at Danny as if he had just said he was going to school in ghost form. "You're letting the _town_ know?!" they screamed in unison.

"I'm tired of hiding this, and the people deserve to know. I do hope that they can take this as well as my parents did, but it's not like we haven't talked about how dangerous this could turn for me, and just how fast, if we underestimate anyone."

"Like Valerie?" Sam sneered.

"I'm hoping that she can understand what I'm doing. After all, she's got her reasons and I have mine. Maybe we have some common ground that I can use to keep her from tanning my hide."

"And what happens if the town ends up in arms and after you? Worse yet, what if they go after your family?" Sam asked.

"You think we haven't covered the risks associated with this? I'm just as worried about their safety as I am for yours, and," he said, pointing to Sam, "just to make sure I have my personal bases covered, I need to talk to your parents tomorrow about this, so I'm really going to need you to have a word with them tonight so I _don't_ end up arrested. Tucker, the same goes for you." He turned to look out the window. "I really hope that they can understand what I've been going through, and how much of my life I've been able to survive because of your help."

"My parents aren't going to take well to this at all, especially with the way they think about your family and the whole ghost hunting thing, but if I talk to Grams first, we should be okay. After all, she still gets the final say in stuff around the house when it comes to me."

Tucker shrugged. "To be honest, Danny, I kind of already told my folks that I've been hanging around the Fentons and doing the whole ghost hunter thing. I just haven't let them on to the idea that you're…well, Inviso-Bill to them."

"Well, that makes half of this whole equation easier." He turned to Sam. "You call to give me advanced warning if I should be expecting the worst with your parents."

Sam nodded. "You sure about this?"

"No, but I haven't been sure about a lot of things in the last year or so, have I?" he asked with a cocky grin.

- - - - -

"So, are you ready for this?" Maddie asked, resting a hand on Danny's shoulder.

Green light flashed from behind his closed eyelids, and he exhaled sharply, the glow dying away slowly. "Not really, but Sam at least said that her grandmother was able to keep her parents from exploding about the situation, especially once Sam took the blame for the whole accident, even though it was kind of a mutual bit of irresponsibility."

Raising her hand, having come as emotional support for her son, Maddie pressed the small button next to the Manson's front door, and the soft tone of the bell sounded from somewhere in the front hallway. Moments later, Sam cracked the door, stepping out to hug Danny. "They're in the drawing room waiting for you." Turning to Maddie, Sam smiled softly. "Thanks for coming, Mrs. Fenton."

Maddie nodded mutely as she entered the house, following Sam and Danny to the room where the rest of Sam's family was waiting.

"Young man, you have really gone too…"

"Jeremy, quiet!" Sam's grandmother cut in, silencing her son-in-law. "We already talked about this last night, and I am not having you start this silliness over again now that Danny is here."

Danny looked to Sam, the goth giving him an apologetic look. "Dad tried to get the restraining order back on last night when I talked to them."

"Should I be in a different room?"

"If I could have, you would be arrested for being within five hundred feet of my daughter and this house. After all this time, and the senseless risks that you have taken with my daughter's life…"

"Jeremy!" Ida yelled again, and Pamela slowly coaxed her husband into a seat, politely offering the couch on the other side of the coffee table to Danny and Maddie.

Danny looked up, his unease quite evident in his posture, and his eyes turned to Pamela. "Mrs. Manson, I…I don't know where to start, honestly. I know that Sam explained most of the situation to you last night, but if there is anything else that…that you want to talk to me about…" He let his voice falter, feeling all the smaller now that he was actually in the same room with Sam's family.

"Honestly, Daniel, I'm a little furious, but not at you, at least not completely. It's a lot of things, including the fact that you, Tucker and Sam have been lying to us for so long about this. While I can understand the logic behind being afraid to talk to us, it just surprises me that you would allow Samantha to spend time with you while you are out….well, you know."

"I know, Mrs. Manson, and I sincerely apologize, but between the early issues with my powers, and then the rush of ghost attacks, especially recently, Sam has been nothing if not the reason I'm still alive, and I couldn't get her to leave my side during a fight, even if I wanted to. She's a very self-reliant and resilient person, and I couldn't ask for better friends than her and Tuck." Danny turned his head slightly, facing Sam's father. "Is there anything that you want to say, Mr. Manson?"

Jeremy sighed, letting his shoulders drop slightly. "I'm…confused, to say the least. I understand very little about ghosts to begin with, and have a great deal of issues with what I have seen of your actions in the news. My biggest concern, I would guess, is that you are risking placing my daughter in a dangerous and illegal position by her knowing you."

It was here that Maddie finally piped up. "While a number of my son's activities have been placed into moral question by the media, we have actually looked into a few of his personal accounts, and actually found them to be sound. By running the security tapes of the City Hall incident through a spectral analysis program, we have seen exactly what went on that day we were led to believe Danny attacked the town. Additionally, a number of other tapes that we've viewed show that there have been…issues with Danny's ability to control his powers. The ringmaster of the circus that was here a month ago actually owned a staff that served as a brainwashing tool over ghosts, so we've cleared a good bit of his public record in the last twenty-four hours."

Jeremy balked. "So you're saying that anyone could just take over your son's mind and get him to do Lord knows what?"

"The technology for ghost manipulation is very limited, and the staff that was used by Freakshow has since been destroyed. Beyond that, my husband and I are working on studying Danny's unique genetics to see if we can't find ways to couple his human resistances to ghost control with his ghost powers. While he can enhance his human physical characteristics because of the amplifying effects of his powers, we do not know what of his human characteristics bleed over into his ghost self. As it stands, we have only begun the evaluation."

"I really appreciate all the help that Sam has provided for the past year and some change," Danny said, "but as her parents, I can understand any concern you may have for her safety, and despite what she may say about it," he said, turning his eyes poignantly to Sam, "I will respect any wishes you have for me to keep your daughter out of my future ghost-related affairs."

"Danny, that's not fair!" Sam cried.

"Whether or not it's fair…" Danny began.

"He's being a good friend by asking for our feelings on the matter," Ida commented, resting her hand on her granddaughter's. Looking at Danny, she smiled. "I, personally, have no concerns for Sam. She is, after all, a girl so much like I was growing up, and with the spitfire personality she has, as well as your history, I can tell she is very capable at handling her own."

Jeremy looked at his wife, words failing him for what he was trying to express. Pamela, however, had talked with him the night previous, so she knew the concerns that he could not voice. "Our only real problem at this point, Daniel, is that Samantha is our only child, and we want to know that she is taken care of." Pamela looked at Maddie. "I'm sure that you can understand where we are coming from with this."

"Very much so," Maddie answered. "I can assure you, however, that the few recordings that we have found of their so-called 'Team Phantom' in action, your daughter is very well protected, and surprisingly capable of handling herself, as I am unaware if she has taken any formal martial training."

"The only training we have been aware of is her personal physical regimen of exercise," Jeremy answered.

"Which is how I'm so good at working with Danny," Sam interjected. "Between my own training, I'm drilling with Danny when we have a free minute, and getting…on-site training when we're out hunting."

"In the end," Jeremy said, looking sternly at Danny, "all I want to know is that, whatever happens, my daughter comes home alive and well at the end of the day."

"That much I cannot say I can _promise_," Danny said, choosing his words carefully, "but I have done, and will continue to do, everything in my power to make sure that is the way it stays."

- - - - -

"Can I be officially weirded out that they took the news so…calmly?" Danny asked his mother as they climbed into the RV.

"To tell you the truth," Maddie said, buckling her seat belt, "I've known Ida for about as long as you've known Sam, and if there's only thing that I've learning in thirteen years, it's that Sam's grandmother is very supportive of the people around her and the paths they choose to follow, so if Sam expressed a desire to stay by your side and continue to train, she'd make sure that Sam's parents understand that rather than making their daughter conform to their ideals."

"You make it sound like Sam's grandmother is the one really controlling her life."

Maddie shrugged as she turned the key in the ignition. "I wouldn't say so much that she's controlling Sam's life as she is making sure that Sam's individuality doesn't get trodden on."

"I'm a little shocked that one of their few terms was that Sam needs to start actual training. She's a great ghost hunter already."

"So I've noticed," Maddie stated as she pulled out and started the drive towards Tucker's house. "In the end, I think what they are concerned with is not so much that she be formally trained, but that she has the added know-how of professional ghost hunters…"

"But I am," Danny interrupted.

"First of all, you have no certification, which is where your father and I hit a bit of a legal tangle last night, and secondly, Sam has more in common with me or your father in that she's fully human. She doesn't have the same arsenal of powers at her beck and call, so it would help for her to learn to rely on something other than your powers saving her at the last minute."

"What do you mean I have no certification?"

"One of the things that came with your father and I getting our Master's degrees in paranormal sciences and psychology was the six-month stint with the local police force to certify us as ghost hunters, even though Amity Park's force didn't buy too heavily into it when we first started. Now, what with the influx and such, it's a more pressing matter. In the end, I think what we'll have to do is make sure we can get you into the program we took here in the city so you can get your certification. Between then and now, figuring that they'll run you through a year-long program, your father and I are going to be held responsible for your actions."

"So that means what for me?"

Maddie looked at her son as she stopped at the red light, reaching over and tousling his messy black hair. "Really, just let us know if you feel that you're having issues with your powers and that you try your best to avoid any collateral damage in the fights you have. I can understand that being thrown into a car is not exactly avoidable with some ghosts, but you have to control your own powers. If you go to hit a ghost with an ecto-beam and hit a car instead, your father and I are going to be held responsible."

Danny relaxed into the passenger seat, leaning it back slightly and resting against the soft seat. "Does all of this feel like a weird dream to you?"

"Some of it does," Maddie answered, turning onto Tucker's street and pulling up to the house. "Speaking of which, that reminds me." Leaning over, Maddie grabbed a small folder from between the seats, handing the thin packet to Danny. "Look inside."

Opening the manila folder, Danny looked at the single sheet of paper inside, confusion marring his face. "What is this?"

"Remember how you were complaining about the effect getting your powers had on your genes? Well, I had no idea where you got the idea that you were no longer our son, but if you look at this," she said, pointing to a select series of numbers, "you match up genetically in both human and ghost forms with your father and me." Flipping the page over, she showed him a small analysis sheet. "The only difference that exists is that you technically have an extra set of chromosomes now. Whatever the ectoplasm did when it bonded to your DNA, it copied your genetic information enough so that your general traits, though they change somewhat in the transformation to reflect your ghostly origins, remain intact."

Danny mulled over the information encoded on the piece of paper. "So it's like there's a veneer of ectoplasm over my genetic structure? I would have assumed the powers would have mutated it."

"Surprisingly, your father and I thought the same thing, but what it looks like is simply that your ghost side is a recessive trait that can be mentally activated and forced into dominance."

"Going ghost," Danny said softly.

"So that's what you call it?"

Danny nodded.

"At least from what I've seen from the research we did on the blood samples, your will to 'go ghost', as you say, excites the ectoplasmic particles within your DNA and activates them, which is where we think that ring of light comes from. Rather than just being showy or whatever, it actually serves to discharge the bioelectric current caused by the activation and excitement of the ecto-energy."

"Does that have anything to do with the fact that the accident started with an electric current?"

"It's very likely that's the case," Maddie answered. "Well, we've dawdled enough. Let's go talk to Tucker's parents."

- - - - -

"That was probably the most unexpected talk I will ever have with his parents," Danny commented.

"I think the part that shocked me the most is that they wanted your autograph."

Danny laughed softly. "I just feel bad that I had to sign 'Fenton'. I haven't even gotten used to the idea of using my pseudonym like that."

"Now that you mention it, why did you go with Phantom as your surname in that form?"

"I figured, once I realized that I had to deal with that weird second life, that a cover story was needed, and Sam figured a good way to hedge my bets with it all was to not go around saying I was Danny Fenton, mostly because of the questions it would cause if I was found out. A thesaurus and a different term for the word 'ghost' led to Phantom, especially when I realized that it was still close to Fenton. I mean, I wasn't about to be someone completely different because I looked a little different."

"I take it that Phantom wasn't the first thing you had in mind, though."

Danny shook his head. "It was, actually, seeing as all the other synonyms of ghost were just…too much, I guess. Phantasm, spirit, specter, spook, apparition…none of them sounded right."

"And the stylized logo thing on your chest?"

"Sam's addition," Danny said softly, smiling. "We had a bit of an issue a couple of weeks ago where she…Okay, there's a ghost named Desiree, and her thing is granting wishes. Now, in the midst of an argument, Sam said that there were some days she'd wished she had never met me, and well…"

"Her wish got granted?"

"Yeah," Danny replied. "I think that Sam…uh…un-wishing the wish a few days later fixed that whole issue, but in the meanwhile, since I hadn't met her due to the wish, I didn't have my powers. When she got me to get my ghost powers a second time, she put the emblem on here, something she designed."

"Wait, let me get this straight – Sam wished she'd never met you, but you were the only one affected?"

"It was actually everyone, as far as I can tell, and I think Sam was protected because she was wearing the Specter Deflector when the spell went off." Danny turned to look out the window for a moment. "I think what the wish did, though, was create some sort of weird parallel timeline, because as far as I can tell, no one has a clue what happened for the two days I was under the effects of the initial wish."


	3. San

**Disclaimer: **_Danny Phantom_ and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc.

* * *

**チプターサン**

"So, you think you're ready for this?"

Danny tapped his fork against his plate, looking somewhat forlornly at his dinner. "To be honest, I'm nervous as all heck, and I've been phazing through stuff all day. I just…I don't know. I'm really worried about how people are going to take this tomorrow."

Jazz reached over and rubbed her brother's back, soothing him. "Well, whatever happens, we'll be by your side."

"Just to be on the safe side, though, we got in contact with a friend of ours from college," Maddie said. "She was a good friend of mine, even though I was a bit of an eccentric with the whole ghost thing, but I explained the situation to her, and she said that she's willing to let you stay with her if anything goes wrong with the whole announcement."

"Which friend?" Jack asked through a mouthful of lasagna.

"Do you remember Amelia?" Maddie asked.

Jack smiled, swallowing his food. "Of course I do! How is she doing?"

"She's doing pretty well for herself."

"She get over Vlad?"

"From the sounds of it, yeah. She's been married for the last five years, and she's actually expecting her first child in about six months."

"Well, that's good to hear. I was a little worried how she was going to be after the accident."

Danny looked between his parents. "Who is Amelia?"

"Amelia Hethron was a friend of mine from college that was romantically interested in Vlad for a good long while. After the accident, though, she'd been kind of withdrawn because he'd rejected her. In retrospect, finding out that it was partially because of me, I feel bad. Anyhow, she understands the situation, and one of the real reasons I got in touch with her is because her specialty is international civil rights litigation. After I explained your situation to her, she said that it was a good thing that I called her, seeing as you might fall under the blanket anti-ecto laws, despite your status as half-human."

"International civil rights?" Jazz asked. "You're having Danny run?"

"If the need arises, at least we have a plan ready. She's already working on Danny's case file to bar extradition if he does have to run."

"Extradition?" Danny asked, disbelief evident in his voice. "Where does this woman live?"

"Ontario, Canada, and she's sending me an address a little later tonight, so I'll have to check my emails. Normally, there aren't any issues with moving any criminally-suspect person out of Canada and to the States, but should the issue arise that our government have a problem with you and we do send you to her, it'll slow any effort they make down."

Jazz looked at her mom. "Why are you so worried?"

"Because I'm familiar with the anti-ecto laws, and if Danny is judged as falling under their purview, he loses all rights that he has as a human and a citizen of the United States. Should that be the case, which it can turn to, I want to make sure that my son is treated like the human that he still is."

"From the way you're talking, you're expecting this to end up having a very heavy precedent setting."

"It just might, Jazz," Maddie replied. Leaning over, she ruffled Danny's hair affectionately. "Like I said, though, I'm not going to allow our government to treat Danny like another ghost when he hasn't technically done anything wrong and he still remains partially human. For the most part, the term half-ghost is a little deceiving."

- - - - -

"So, how are you holding up after what I mentioned at dinner?"

Danny rolled over in bed, turning to his mother. "I'm more worried, to be honest. I was under the impression that you would just have me moved into a secure facility somewhere, like a holding cell in the basement, should the government want something to do with me. Now I'm suddenly finding out that I could be twelve hours from fugitive status and begging the Canadian government to offer me political asylum."

"While that's true, we're all hoping that it doesn't turn that way," Maddie answered, sitting at the foot of his bed. "Speaking of which, though, you're going to have to take a round-about way into Canada if you do run. We figured it would throw the authorities off a bit, so Amelia and I got in touch with a few people we know. You're going to end up doing a slingshot maneuver if this turns for the worst." Handing Danny a small envelope, she watched mutely as he looked over the contents.

Opening the small package, Danny found a small wristwatch and the locations of the houses where he was going to be going. "What's with the watch?"

Tapping a button on the watch, the screen activated, and Danny discovered that it was not a watch, but rather a small GPS unit. "Your father and I have been working on that for a while now, but rather than using it to find ghosts, we downgraded it to just a directional system. It's already been calibrated for various altitude adjustments you might make, but it'll lead you to where you have to go. After all, those directions you have include latitude and longitude points."

"So…Bismarck, Vegas, Roswell, St. Louis, and Albany," Danny said, looking over the list. "Wait, Roswell? As in the heart of all alien sightings and such?"

"Yeah. I was a little concerned when all five cities turned out to be major ones, but the people living there are fully aware of the situation and ready to help. The way we figure it, you'll take about a day or so between cities, and once you're rested up and ready to leave, they're going to let us know that you're off safely. Whatever we can do to confuse the authorities, the better until you can meet up with Amelia."

Tapping in a quick sequence, the first location on his route was placed into the small GPS unit. "Won't they be able to track me with this?" he asked.

"Not at all. While it will link up to let you know which way to go, it won't be sending a return signal to let us know where you are."

Danny sighed heavily. "I can't believe I'm here, ready to bolt and leave home for who knows how long." He palmed his face softly, running his hands back over his hair as he exhaled slowly. "I know they are going to _kill_ me for this, but if I have to run, don't let Sam and Tucker know anything other than I'm safe. I'll stay in touch however I can, but I don't want them trying to follow me."

"Alright," Maddie said, standing. "Oh, before I forget, Amelia wanted me to let you know that she's already spoken with a few officials in the Canadian Parliament, and your status as a civil refugee is pretty much a guarantee if the U.S. government makes a move against you."

"It sounds like a good bit of this is very rushed," Danny noted, curling into his pillow. "After all, it's been less than a week."

"Some of it is, but from the way she's talking, your case is a very important international precedent waiting to happen, even as rare as your condition is. Between her jumping on the case to help us and working on the case because of the implications now that we know the interface exists, she's found a number of other lawyers around the world that are helping her build your case. With there never having been a case like this before, there are a lot of people that are thinking a lot further than you and what happens if someone tries to turn you into an example."

"What do you mean, 'further than me'?"

"Well, seeing as you're the second hybrid, there's that, but a few people have mentioned the concern for any…for any children you might have in the future. The case is actually being written for anyone with an affinity for ghost powers, regardless of whether they are half-, quarter-, or a hundredth-ghost."

"Oh, wow," Danny said.

"That's what I said," Maddie responded with a smile. "But I'm going to go ahead and let you get to sleep. You've got one heck of a day ahead of you."

Danny sat up, grabbing his mom's wrist, his eyes luminescent. "If I run…" he said, struggling with the next part of his question. "If I run, can you and Dad handle the ghost attacks here without me?"

"You're questioning my skills?" Maddie said with a raised brow.

"No!" Danny replied hurriedly. "I just want to know it's safe to go, not knowing when I'll be back."

- - - - -

"Please, everyone, settle down!" Maddie called out, leaning over the lectern to make sure the microphone was attached. "I realize that the discussions have been very heated since we made the announcement that the ghost boy wanted to speak with the town, but could everyone please settle down and take their seat?"

It took nearly fifteen more minutes before City Hall was quiet enough for Maddie and Jack to begin. Stepping up to the lectern, she took a deep breath, knowing full well that Jazz was behind the main stage curtain with her brother, already in ghost form, helping him relax before he was required to speak. Silently, she hoped that her son's announcement would go off without a hitch and that the town would respond well. After all, the two families Danny had been most concerned with were behind him as much as his own family.

"Citizens of Amity Park, I made the announcement this past Wednesday that our resident specter wanted to speak with us, and despite initial personal reservations, I feel that it would be in the better interests of our town to listen to him for just a few moments. In the few days since we set up this meeting, I have spoken with Danny Phantom," she said, knowing full well that using his true name would make one less hurdle for Danny to have to jump, "as he calls himself, and I do feel that we have negatively portrayed a number of his noted public…appearances." Turning, she waved to her husband, who leaned behind the curtain and called their son out.

As Danny stepped clear of the curtain, his glowing green eyes scanning the crowd, he felt his heart jump a little at the sight of so many of his neighbors and classmates in the room with him. Shaking hands with his mother as he stepped up to her, he took his place at the lectern as his mother and father returned to their seats.

Clearing his throat, Danny scanned the crowd once more, finding soft, supportive smiles on the faces of his friends. "To all of you gathered here today, I want to, first, apologize for the number of issues that have arisen in my time within Amity Park. While I have been on a personal mission to keep this city safe from other ghosts, I have not been doing so to the best of my ability, and hope that you understand that I am still somewhat coming into myself, which makes my life a little more hectic than some of you might have thought. Additionally, for those of you whose lives I have affected personally, I do want to assure you that a great number of the problems caused have not been truly intentional. A month previously, I fell under the control of a circus leader who possessed a family heirloom specifically designed to work on ghosts, and thereby, I was not in my right mind for a good stretch of that time period." Danny took a shallow breath, his pause only slightly longer than it needed to be. "As for the town invasion where I first became publicly known, I again want to apologize. My activity within the human world has garnered some negative attention in the Ghost Zone, attention that led to the prison warden of the Zone setting up an operation in this world aimed at destroying whatever reputation I would have liked to have built with you."

Danny paused once more, knowing that he could not dawdle long. "I have, however, not come up here to make excuses for my actions, but rather to bring before you the truth of the efforts I have tried to make within Amity Park, for the betterment of this wonderful city, as well as the effort I put forth in protecting you from the more malevolent of the ghosts that torment our realm." Stepping from the lectern, he grabbed the microphone, walking to the edge of the small stage. "Most importantly, though, I want to let you know something about me that only a few privileged individuals are aware of at the moment. While I am, by all accounts, one of the many ghosts that have come to this realm, there is something more to me than meets the eye, something that I believe will help you to understand why it is that I fight on your side. To those of you who know what I speak of, I cannot thank you enough for the work and aid you have provided since the first day I came to Amity Park, and to those of you who I have left confused, the only thing I can do is show you what it is that makes me different."

Silence swept over the audience as a pair of glowing rings snapped into place around Danny's waist , and he closed his eyes for just a moment, letting out a heated exhalation as the rings moved, revealing to the town the truth that Danny Phantom was Danny Fenton.

Raising the microphone once more, Danny opened his eyes to look out at the stunned faces surrounding him. "A little less than a year ago, I was in a lab accident in my parents' basement. As many of you are well aware, my parents are certified ghost hunters, and part of their experiments involved finding a way to create an artificial portal into the Ghost Zone for the purpose of scientific study. When completed, the machine was not initially functioning, but due to a rather…clumsy move, I managed to fix the Portal. The problem with fixing it, however, was that I was inside the machine when it geared on, and in the course of miraculously surviving a massive electrical shock, my body was bonded with ectoplasm, and I was given the ghost powers I have today. In the time since, as I have already stated, I have done whatever I could within my power to help defend this town. While some of you may want to blame the Portal in my house as the reason why Amity Park has to deal with a heavy influx of ghosts, please don't. In truth, there are more natural portals opened over Lake Eerie on a daily basis than there are ghosts that manage to get past the security protocols at home."

Looking over the crowd, there were more than a couple angry expressions, and Danny caught one in particular. "There are some people that I would like to apologize to in person after we have ended this meeting, mainly because I would like to discuss matters with you without them being all over the open airwaves." Danny felt a small tremble in his legs, and his mother was at his side just in time for him to give her the microphone and stumble towards his seat. Dropping into the chair next to his dad, he looked at the man, a weak smile coming to his face, the later part of his mother's speech lost amidst the tension that clung to his mind.

"I think you did a great job, Danny," Jack said. "It takes a very brave person to step up to the town like you did and let them know what is going on in your life."

- - - - -

"Valerie, do you have a moment?" Danny asked, catching up to the teen.

"Not really, Phantom, and I don't think you'll want to be within a few hundred yards of me unless you like the idea of being handcuffed."

"Valerie, did you not hear what I said in there? I'm sorry for the things that have happened, but just because I'm half-ghost doesn't make me any less the person I was before the accident. I'm still Danny Fenton. I'm still human, and still very much on this side of living." He stopped for a moment, looking at his feet. "I tried to explain to you before that the dog wasn't mine, and I cannot apologize enough for what happened to you and your dad, and there isn't a day that goes by that I wish I could have found out why Cujo was so desperate to get back into the Axion building. Had I but known that he just wanted his squeaky toy, that he was one of the guard dogs that the company put down when they installed the new security system, I would have gotten it, gotten out of the facility, and Cujo would have never been a major part of either of our lives, or as destructive a part of yours." Still refusing to look at her, the only cue he had that she was still there, though he could only hope she was listening, was that he still saw her shoes. "If you want me to leave…"

"No," Valerie answered curtly, exhaling a quick, sharp breath. "It's always confused me why you were so willing to run, that you never wanted to fight me…not unless I gave you no option in the matter. Never once did I think that you were trying to help, and a part of me feels terrible for the way I've been treating you."

"I can understand, Valerie, much more than you think I can, why you did what you did, and I don't hold it against you that you have hunted me. In the end, though, I think I would be honored if you would lend your expertise to helping defend this town from the others…from the ghosts I'm normally fighting. You'd be a great addition to our team, and a very valuable asset to this town. We need more people with your level of skill and dedication, what with this town having a few nexus points for portals and such."

Valerie blinked. "You mean that? Even with what…"

"Yes, I do. You're on level with my mom and Sam when it comes to ghost hunting, and with some very useful equipment to boot." Danny smiled softly, offering his hand in a sign of peace. "Associates?"

Valerie looked at the offered limb for a moment before taking it in her own, shaking softly.

"If you'd like, you can come over to my house. It would probably help for you to talk to my parents about the whole mess, see if maybe they can't help you out with what you've been doing." He smirked. "And you might just find out that you need to go through the same training and certification program that I do to actually be a _legitimate_ ghost hunter under city law."

- - - - -

A knock on the door was unexpected, especially since every other member of Team Phantom and their families had gone home for the night. Standing, Danny followed his mother to the door, finding three individuals in white suits standing outside the door once she had opened it.

"Can I help you?" Maddie asked.

"Mrs. Fenton, we are from the government ecto-control agency, the Guys in White, and we are here to…collect a…Danny Phantom for repeated violations under the Federal Anti-Ecto Act. We have, in the last four hours, received at least two hundred calls providing the location of the specter known as Danny Phantom, a scale seven high-risk entity, and ask that you kindly assist us in this matter."

Maddie wheeled around, facing her son as she slammed the door in the agents' faces. "Danny, run!" she ordered.


	4. Yon

**Disclaimer:**_ Danny Phantom _and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc.

* * *

**チプターヨン**

Danny was up the stairs and in his room before he heard the front door get smashed in, knowing full well that his parents were going to be doing whatever they could to keep the agents away from him until he got out of the house. Tucking two small envelopes under his pillow, he quickly mussed the sheets on his bed, assuring that his mother would find the two letters, and he grabbed the bag he'd packed the night previously, which contained his wallet, a little over two hundred dollars, the directions he needed to get to Amelia's house, a spare Thermos, and a couple changes of clothes. Transforming as he shouldered the pack, he flew out of the window, watching forlornly as his house grew small, his altitude quickly increasing. Pressing the small button on the GPS on his wrist, he waited for a few seconds before the system told him where he had to go, and he was off.

- - - - -

"You are acting in blatant violation of the Harboring a Rogue Ectoplasmic Entity subsection of the Act, Mrs. Fenton," one agent cried out as he dodged another high kick, reeling backwards into one of the other agents. The third had been knocked unconscious by Jack, who was currently in the basement, handcuffing the agent.

"Whether or not I'm in violation of anything says nothing for the fact that you're not going to get your damn hands on my son!" Maddie said, rolling clear of the second agent's fist. "While he is part ghost, he's just as much a human and still in full possession of his civil rights."

"That ghost is just wearing the guise of a human to pass himself off in this world," the first agent said just before he was clocked over the back of the head with a tossed Thermos, falling unconscious to the floor.

"I have run more than enough tests to assure you that he's as much a human, and there is no way that you can utilize the Anti-Ecto laws to take his rights from him." Looking for a split second at her wrist, she saw that the scanner around the house was silent, signaling that there was no ghost energy within a three-block radius. "Though it doesn't really matter now, agent," she said as she clipped the side of his head with her heel. "My son is already on the move to a safe house we arranged for him in the event that this kind of stupidity happened."

- - - - -

Falling slowly through the clouds, the moist atmosphere was the only thing serving to keep Danny awake at this point, as he had been drifting into semi-consciousness for the last hour or so. Checking the GPS on his wrist, he saw with relief that he only had another seventy miles to fly, though there was still the matter of dropping the forty-two thousand feet back down to ground level. Angling himself downward, he pulled the straps of his bag tight, securing the backpack before he gunned for the ground, moving well over his normal flight speed, slipping into intangibility to further reduce his wind resistance.

Half an hour found him crumpled in the front lawn of a house, having crashed down, falling into the shallowest bit of unconsciousness on final approach. The impact had served to not only knock him back to human form, but also to wake him, now suspended twenty feet above the ground, upside-down, and with his ankle stuck between two branches of the tree he'd hit, his backpack snared on a completely different branch. Phazing clear of the branch, he couldn't help the scream that ripped from his throat as he fell, coming down back-first on the soft, if somewhat sodden ground.

"Who's there?" a voice called from the front door, and Danny pulled himself up, covered in grass stains, mud and leaves, just as an older gentleman walked onto the front porch. "Who are you?" he asked.

Danny looked up, unsure if this was the person he was supposed to meet up with. "My name is Daniel. I'm Maddie Fenton's son." He hovered high enough to grab his pack before turning his attention back to the gentleman that had greeted him.

Wordlessly, the man quickly urged Danny indoors, guiding him to the first floor bathroom. "Go ahead and get a change of clothes on. You seemed to have done a good number on those already, so once you change, I'll toss those out." Pointing, the man directed Danny to the shower. "I wasn't expecting you in so early, Danny, but take a shower while you're at it. I'll have something for you to eat when you get out. Oh, and do you drink coffee or tea?"

"Coffee sounds good," Danny said, struggling to pull his shirt off.

The man closed the door as he exited the bathroom, leaving Danny on his own.

Following the man's advice, Danny quickly untangled himself from the damaged and stained mess that he'd made of his clothes, leaving them in a heap in one corner of the bathroom as he jumped into the shower.

Once he'd managed to dry off and get into a fresh change of clothes, Danny stumbled out of the bathroom, his dirty clothes under one arm, the bag hung on the shoulder of the other. The gentleman, realizing that Danny was in the room, grabbed a small plastic bag from the counter in the kitchen, helping Danny maneuver the pile of cloth into it before tying the bag off and tossing it into the garbage.

"You must be Vincent," Danny said.

"Vincent Logan, at your service indeed, Danny Fenton," the man said, offering his hand. "I'm glad to see that you've made your first jump safely." Looking at the television, which was currently muted, he noticed the time. "It's almost five in the morning. What happened?"

"The agents didn't come to arrest me until nearly nine last night." Danny turned towards the television set, finding a picture of Danny Phantom on the screen. "I take it they're really pushing for my capture, if I've made national news already."

"Captured or destroyed, they don't much care," Victor replied. "As a scale seven, though, I can see why they're worried about you being free."

"What the heck does that mean, anyway?"

"Ghosts are measured, in terms of power, on a scale of zero to nine, with nine being the highest power classification. You, my boy, come in at seven, which is impressive enough for someone who is only halfway within that realm."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "You're a ghost hunter?"

"No. My studies are actually focused on psychic manifestations, but since ghosts are part of the realm of some psychics, I have studied enough to understand the basics about them, including the rating system that the government uses." He led Danny into the kitchen, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sitting on a plate next to a glass of milky coffee. "Right now, I apologize that this is all I have to offer, but I don't have much in the way of warm food that was ready to serve."

Sitting down, Danny dug hungrily into the offered items, thanking Vincent between bites.

"Well, I'm going to go ahead and let you get to sleep. There's a spare bedroom upstairs, second door on your left. Sleep however late you want, and I'll make sure there is a more substantial meal waiting for you when you wake up."

"Should I be trying to get in touch with my folks?" Danny asked.

"That's actually the concern of whoever you're staying with," Vincent responded, "but I'm not sure when I should try to get in touch with your mother. After all, the three of them were arrested around midnight."

"What?!"

Vincent didn't answer at first, leading Danny to the room he was to use. "From what the reporters are saying, your family assaulted the agents that came to get you, and are being held for the next forty-eight hours or so until something happens, be it criminal charges being filed or them being released."

"Isn't there anything that can be done? After all, I'm the one the agents are after."

Vincent smiled. "Don't worry yourself too much, Daniel. Amelia has a good number of connections, and she's got a friend headed out to Amity Park to work pro bono on their case. Considering the civil rights issue that your case is going to present, especially with the evidence your mom has that you _are _still human, they shouldn't be in any real trouble, especially with the fact that they were defending you from the agents."

"Wow. For how little Mom and Dad talk about their college days, you all seem to be working well with this whole thing."

"We've stayed in touch throughout the years, and with the implications your nature has on both scientific and legal levels, we're more excited than we seem. When word got out among our little college huddle about what you were…well, you can guess how much we've been pushing for you to be taken care of."

Dropping his shoes by the bedroom door, Danny flopped into the soft bed. "Thanks so much, Victor, for all the help everyone is giving me."

"You just survive this little incident and get to Amelia's, and you're going to be the most popular person on the planet in about a month," Victor said, smiling as he closed the door.

- - - - -

The sun was already falling beneath the horizon by the time Danny's cerulean blues saw something other than the inside of his eyelids. Stretching with a yawn, he sat up, running a hand through his ebony locks before grabbing his shoes and heading downstairs. Wiping at his eyes to get rid of the last vestiges of clinging sleepiness, Danny bumped into someone, and he reeled back, apologizing profusely to the woman he had not met.

"You must be Danny," she said with a smile, offering her hand. "I'm Victor's wife, Illisa."

"Pleasure to meet you," Danny said, shaking her hand. "So, do you know my folks, or is that just Victor?"

"No. I met your parents a couple of times throughout their college years. I'm not as close to them as Victor, but I know your parents. Speaking of which, we got a call from your mother about an hour ago. Seems that Mark was able to clear up their aggravated battery charges without an issue, and from the new reports, there's been an injunction placed on the Guys in White by the U.N. regarding your case. The States are having an issue with it, but with all the bureaucratic bull that's going on, it's going to be a tangled mess of governmental jargon for a while."

"So I'm still heading to Amelia's?"

Illisa's smile faded a little. "For now, at least, it would be the safest course. We haven't heard word from Amelia or the Canadian Parliament, but there should be an announcement soon as to whether you're going to be protected in political asylum once you cross into Canada."

"Amelia's pushing for the order to go through the courts as fast as possible," Victor said, walking into the room, a glass of some liquid in hand. He offered the greenish-yellow drink to Danny. "You're going to be getting a move on in about an hour or so, and I'm hearing that there's a nasty little rain storm going on right along your course. That tea will help keep you from getting sick passing through it."

Taking a sip, Danny's face contorted slightly as the bitter, sour drink hit his tongue. "What the heck is this?"

"Medicinal herbs at their best," Illisa said. "It's a plain green tea that we've augmented with a natural vitamin C complex and a bit of eucalyptus and about two tablespoons of fresh-squeezed lemon juice. It's about the best you can get in terms of fighting off a cold or any other illness, and it'll do well to boost your immune system."

Danny pinched his nose shut, chugging the remainder of the lukewarm drink before giving the glass back to Victor. "Thanks," he said softly.

"You're very welcome," Victor answered. "Before you leave, I have one concern."

Danny cocked an eyebrow.

"You like meatloaf?"

- - - - -

Well-rested and with a full stomach, Danny hugged both Victor and Illisa before changing forms and slipping out of sight, programming the next destination into the GPS on his wrist and blasting off towards Las Vegas.

Surfing on the cool air of the coming night, Danny didn't take long before he hit the weather front he'd been warned about, dodging and weaving through the clouds, his adrenaline pumping as he not only bolted between the cool, refreshing storm, but also through a lightning storm, his razor-sharp senses keeping him two steps ahead of Mother Nature as he coasted along the fringes of the electric discharges, feeling the raw power of the storm reflect against his own power.

Still out of sight, Danny lowered his altitude, coasting over the Rocky Mountains as he continued his trek to the next stop, hoping beyond all reason that he wasn't aimed for some location on the infamous Strip in Las Vegas. After all, he was a bit of a national celebrity, and it was very likely that images of his human identity were floating around just as much as those of his Phantom self.

- - - - -

As it turned out, the location had said Las Vegas, but the house he ended up at was about twelve miles off of the Strip and in a decently quiet section of town. Danny, coasting the last couple of hundred feet, landed on his feet in the back yard as he returned to his human form, knocking softly on the door. A young girl answered the door, and upon realizing that she didn't know Danny, held up a finger before running back towards the front of the house. A moment later, she returned with someone Danny could have only figured to be her mother.

"Yolanda Tersen?" Danny asked of the woman.

"Danny Fenton?" the woman asked with a warm smile.

"That would be me," Danny answered, wiping his feet on the mat by the door before entering the small house.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Danny," Yolanda said. "This is my daughter, Olivia. Olivia, say hi to Danny Phantom."

The young girl's eyes widened in excitement even as a look of confusion crossed her face. "He doesn't look like Danny Phantom."

With a smile, Danny initiated the transformation, kneeling down so that he was at eye level with the girl as his eyes rolled over green. "Pleasure to meet you, Olivia."

The girl was immediately jumping all over Danny, asking him to give her a piggyback ride through the house, to which the teen replied by doing so while hovering, returning to human form in the midst of such, the thought crossing his mind that his ecto-signature was probably more presentable if he were in ghost form than in human.

"Sorry about that," Yolanda said. "She's a big fan of the supernatural, so when I told her that Danny Phantom was going to be visiting, she's been looking forward to meeting you."

"For me to have as bad a public record as I do, she seems not to care why it is that I'm on the news," Danny said, smiling as he noticed Olivia peeking into the kitchen from the hall that led to her bedroom.

"Olivia, get to bed already. He'll be here tomorrow, too, so you can fight over who gets the last pancake and talk then."

Danny smiled, wondering if it was just a motherly trait that allowed Yolanda to know her daughter was still awake without even looking. "So, what's your field?"

"Paranormal phenomenon," Yolanda replied. "Not exactly the same field as your parents, but still close enough that knowing that you exist is extremely exciting."

"I've heard a lot of that lately," he replied before popping a forkful of seasoned green beans into his mouth. "Thanks for the food."

"You're quite welcome, Danny," Yolanda said, "and as for Olivia, she's actually a bit…psycho-sensitive, so the paranormal is as much her interest as it is mine."

"She's what?" Danny asked.

"Psycho-sensitive," Yolanda repeated. "It would be along the lines of your ghost sense, but in a full human, although I'm tempted to send your mother a blood sample to verify that."

"You think she's…part ghost?"

Yolanda nodded. "She may very well be. After all, when I delivered her, the umbilical was wrapped around her neck, and she wasn't breathing for about a minute or so. Figuring that she was drawn near the veil…close to death, it may be that she's activated something similar to your powers, just on a smaller scale."

"Well, that is something I never thought about when it came to this."

"The idea that near-death experiences may cause the presence of ghost traits? Wasn't your accident almost lethal?"

Danny shrugged, digging into the pork chop now that he'd run out of vegetables. "I think it was, but I'm not totally sure. Any new information on what's going on with me and my family?"

"Well, the U.N. injunction on the GIW is still holding, although there are reports that the agency is still looking for you, despite the cease-and-desist order. Other than that, nothing big, although your mother wants me to keep you here for three days, give you time to settle after all that's gone on. It'll give time for whatever Amelia's got going on her end, as well as see what's going on with the rest of the government."

"If there's a U.N. injunction, what's the rest of the government saying about all this?"

"Minnesota's Congress is in an uproar about the GIW's attempt to capture you, and Amity Police have actively arrested four agents for being within city limits, looking for you. The President has ordered the GIW to stand down so that this can be worked out, but for some reason, they don't seem to be listening."

"Seeing as they are a militaristic group, wouldn't they be answering to the Secretary of Defense?"

"They do, but the President has a very big say in military action, and the GIW is putting a lot on the line by going renegade." Noting Danny's nearly empty plate, she stood. "You like chocolate cake?"

"It has sugar. Why wouldn't I?" Danny replied with a smirk.

"Oh, while I'm thinking about it, your mother mentioned something about letters that you wrote."

"What of them?"

Yolanda dropped a healthy slice of double-layer chocolate cake onto a smaller plate, looking over her shoulder. "She said that your friends are doing okay, although one of them…Sarah? No, that wasn't the name…"

"Sam?"

"That's the one," Yolanda said. "Sam's a little miffed about the whole situation and why you felt that she needed to be left in the dark."

"How's she handling it, did my mom say?"

"From what I heard, you should see the protests she's mounting online. There are about five or six different sites, three of which have garnered massive attention, petitioning for international amnesty for you, pending a more comprehensive study."

"That doesn't sound like Sam. She's against the whole lab rat thing."

"Well, I checked one of the sites, and from what I'm seeing, she's supporting a non-invasive study group, led by your parents, into studying your condition. I think what she's trying to get at is a better understanding of the half-ghost condition so that you can be considered outside of the Anti-Ecto legislation."

Danny blinked. "What is the deal with the Anti-Ecto laws anyhow?"

Yolanda shrugged. "What is there to say? It's basically a bundle of blanket laws that make ghost hunting legal in the U.S., but it runs on the assumption that the spectral entity is…well, a spectral entity. There has never been formal legislation made for someone like you because we didn't know that you existed. Now, there's a lot of issues coming up as to whether or not you actually count as human, ghost, both, neither, or some weird cross-hatching of the laws and such."

"So that's why there's the concern about my general rights and such."

"Basically. I'm with your mother on this, though. Your blood tests came back with enough information to prove that you, by law, are classified as a human, but the fact that there is the ecto-layering is leaving your status under the Act as questionable."

- - - - -

"I still can't believe he ditched us!"

"I don't think he ditched us, Sam," Tucker said. "If he's busy running from the government, wouldn't it be easier if he went alone?"

Sam sighed. "I realize that, but we didn't even get so much as a goodbye, and just…poof! News reports are the first thing that let me know he's even gone, and…"

"You're just frustrated, Sam. Believe me, I feel just as left behind, but he needed to do this on his own."

Sam kicked her desk, her chair rolling softly over the carpet, and she dialed the volume down on her stereo before throwing on some of her newer albums. "I just really wish he would have said something while we were at his house the night everything went down. He acted like nothing was wrong, and the whole time, him and his mother have been setting up this whole escape plan."

"Yeah, but in the same respect, at least he was prepared for all of this. It's probably the first time since he _became _Danny Phantom that he's been going into something prepared."

"I just hope he's okay," Sam said, casting her gaze at the cell phone sitting on her desk.

- - - - -

"So, young Daniel finally decided to tell the world. He must be so confused right now, running for his life." Standing up, Vlad turned off the television in his room, heading for the lab. Away on business, he'd come home to a very unexpected, but not unwelcome, surprise.

Perhaps, with the right goading, he would be able to turn Danny to his side.

- - - - -

In a way, Danny was glad that he wasn't _too _jumpy when it came to waking up suddenly, or things could have ended very badly, both for him and young Olivia, who felt compelled to jump on him the next morning to wake him up. He was a victim, according to her, of her morning pouncing, a term that later was explained to mean Olivia jumping onto someone, either to wake them or to get their attention, usually for a hug.

As had been offered the night previous, Danny's morning was filled with the delectable scent of freshly-cooked pancakes, and he and Olivia raced to the dining room, Danny falling over himself and saving the pancakes only by the timely use of his phazing powers to pass harmlessly through Yolanda and the plate full of food. Pulling himself off of the floor, he plopped down in the seat next to Olivia, poking her softly in the neck and eliciting a number of squeals from the child, tickling her while their plates were being piled with pancakes and sausage links.

"You're not going to like the newest addition to the news reports," Yolanda said after Danny had finished with his food.

"Are my parents okay?"

"They're fine," Yolanda answered, "but it seems that Vlad Masters is taking particular attention in you."

Danny scowled. "What's he after now?"

Yolanda shrugged. "I really wouldn't know, save for the fact that he put up a reward of ten million dollars for information regarding your whereabouts. He's acting like he's doing it to return you to your parents, but something tells me that if he finds you, that won't be how it ends."

"You think he's going to turn me in? He'd be nuts to try that, seeing as he's just as tangled up in this as I am." Danny looked over at the television, finding the screen off. "When did he make the announcement?"

"About two hours ago."

"Is there another person trying to get you?" Olivia asked. "Mommy, why are there so many people trying to hurt Danny Phantom?"

"A lot of people don't understand his gift, Olivia," Yolanda replied. "Rather than see him as special and help him to learn how to fully utilize his unique talents, they just want to lock him up and make him an example to those that want to be different."

"That's not fair. The world is full of people that are different. If they did something to Danny, the rest of the different people would be angry."

Yolanda nodded. "And we don't want people out rioting in the streets, do we?"

Olivia shook her head.

"Wait, riots? What the heck did I start?"

"Nothing…at least not yet. There are a lot of civil rights groups that are mounting massive protests around the nation, and I'd be lying if I said the news stations aren't mentioning their concerns. It seems that the people are all but ready to lay siege to whatever GIW facilities they can find. From what the news reports were earlier this morning, somebody that was working on a protest in Denver found a GIW base on the outskirts of the city a day or so ago, and there's a picket group of over six thousand already marching around the building. Denver police were called in to make sure that nothing got out of hand."

"Wow. I never would have thought that my situation would have caused this much of an uproar."

"Well, I think we have your friend Samantha to thank. She got her hands on your parent's research data, and it's gone global that you're still human. The U.N. is all but ordering the President to use State-side military force to get the GIW to stand down so that we can resolve this situation."

"Why are they still coming after me then?"

"Well, despite the fact that they've officially lost their federal funding, they _are_ still an underground and _very_ secretive branch of the United States government, so finding them is going to be very time-consuming unless someone can hack the main GIW computer and find out the location of all their bases and agents."

- - - - -

"Did you really say what you meant earlier?" Danny asked as he sat down in Yolanda's office, a small room set off from the living room with a computer and a few file cabinets.

"About what?"

"That what I have is a gift. After all, my powers are only the result of a very stupid and irresponsible act on my part."

Yolanda shook her head. "Irresponsibility only made you walk into that machine while it was plugged in. There's something more in the fact that you somehow managed to survive a massive electrical shock with no other side effects save for becoming half-ghost, so, yes, I do believe that it is a gift that you need to understand. From you asking me that, I see that you don't believe it to be a gift."

"Sam always told me that my powers made me unique, but all they ever seem to earn me are bruises, enmity, and undesirable attention. That's half the reason that I felt that outing myself would have been the best course of action. I wanted people to know me for who I am and what I've been trying to do all this time." He looked at the trio of cabinets to his right. "What are all of those?"

"They are case files and information that I've been collecting since college. Each and every one of them is related to paranormal phenomenon, but set up in three different categories. The first of the cabinets has all the reports of activity, from moving furniture and automatic writing to UFOs and ghost sightings. All of them are second-hand knowledge in that they are academic papers or newspaper clippings, but nothing I've looked into personally. The second cabinet is filled with my actual interviews with those who have witnessed some phenomenon or another. The third cabinet focuses specifically on people who show some form of psychic expression that can manifest, though not always on command. I've got one case file for a guy that demonstrated both personal and manifest telekinesis."

"What's that?"

"It's the ability to move objects solely by psychic means. He moved a fully-stocked refrigerator a whole three feet, and all while hovering over his kitchen table. I've got another of a woman who can both sense and hear spirits, though she can't see them. She says it feels like an electrical charge running through her, as well as intense cold, when they're nearby, but the voices she can hear clearly. I actually have audio recordings from that, and you can hear four or five spirits talk on it, and almost all of them when she asked them. Yet another person I talked to claimed that he could become unseen, and when I set up a control test, not a one of the forty-seven people in the room ever saw him go through, even though I have video proof that he was there for over half an hour."

"Wow," was all that Danny could say.

"The thing that I've found that the people in the third category have in common, though, is the reason I feel that Olivia may be partially like you. Each one of them has had a near-death experience, or has suffered some kind of ailment that brought them near the veil. The woman that can hear them, for example, suffered a string of fevers in early childhood, all of which got high enough she should have died. The highest was a little over a hundred and seven degrees, at which point her brain should have been frying in its own fluid."

"But they've all survived,"

"And they've all touched the veil,"

Danny raised an eyebrow. "I take that to mean the hypothetical veil that's between the worlds?"

Yolanda nodded softly. "I don't think it's hypothetical, though. I think it does exist, but only to keep our eyes from seeing what lies beyond. The veil only lifts safely for those ready to pass on."

"Why only then if so many come so close?"

"The most logical conclusion I've ever been able to come to is that the information overload from seeing the world of spirits, an unadulterated world of absolute energy, would basically fry the human brain. After all, the human mind is a finite organ, and can only hold so much. I've often compared the idea of the veil to the concept that hearing the true voice of the divine would kill a person."

"So the idea of there being a light at the end of the tunnel…"

"It's a safety mechanism to avoid their sight piercing the veil. After all, if you're having a near-death experience, it's theorized that your spirit has actually begun to leave your body, but is still bound to certain things, such as vision and memory."

"That's because the two are still attached?"

Yolanda nodded. "That's the closest we've come to a full theory, yes."

"That's pretty interesting."


	5. Go

**Disclaimer:**_ Danny Phantom _and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc.

* * *

**チプターゴ**

"Danny, wake up."

Blinking and sitting up, he looked worried at the person who'd woken him. "Is something wrong, Yolanda?"

"Nothing's wrong, per se," she replied. "You've just been asleep for the last eleven hours, so I thought you might want to wake up and get some food in your system."

The immediate grumble from Danny's stomach let both people know that food sounded like a _very_ good idea at the moment.

- - - - -

Maddie looked up from the papers in front of her, her concentration broken by the sound of the doorbell chiming upstairs. Sighing, she made a small mark in red pen to let her know where she had left off, pushing herself out of her chair and stretching before heading for the stairs. Leaning back, she felt the satisfying pop of a few of her lower vertebrae, realizing only then that she'd been in the same position, hunched over the various papers she'd been reading, for nearly five straight hours.

When she finally managed to get to the front door, having heard the bell chime twice more on the trip, she had to viably restrain herself from beating the living daylights out of the person who dared to be within a thousand miles of the Fenton household.

"Hello, Vladimir," she growled, her voice low. "What are you doing here?"

"Just coming to check up on my friends and see how the search for your son is going," Vlad answered with a smile. "After all, it is normal to be concerned for the welfare of a friend's child." Stepping into the living room, Vlad winced as Maddie closed the door behind him, heading for the kitchen. "You know," he called, his voice taking on a more cynical tone, "for someone who's missing her son, you surely don't seem upset."

So desperately caught up in trying to garner Maddie's attention, Vlad never saw the weapon Jack brought to bear against him, the electric green light that spewed forth from the muzzle dropping the elder hybrid like a sack of potatoes.

- - - - -

"Wha…?" Vlad muttered, his vision hazy as he finally began to come into some state of consciousness, though he was momentarily confused as to his present location.

"Looks like he's awake," came a voice to his right.

"Finally," spoke another, softer voice from the same direction, and Vlad turned his head to look, finding Jack and Maddie a few feet away from him and apparently standing on the wall. Only as his mind cleared did he finally realize that he was actually laying down, his arms and legs bound to the table by glowing metal binders.

"What in the name of sugar cookies is going on here?" Vlad asked, his face screwed into a mask of confusion.

"For the moment, we're running a battery of blood tests and other analyses to see what your particular breed of half-ghost genetics are looking like," Maddie answered, grabbing a stack of paper that had finished printing, "though I can tell you right now that your healing factor is far below that of Danny's."

"He told you?" Vlad asked, the fear finally starting to show in his voice.

"Mm-hmm," Maddie answered with a nod, her eyes locked on the paper in her hands.

Jack looked over his shoulder at the black-suited individual currently shackled to the table. "As much as I don't want you near my house or my family, Vladdie, it's the only safe bet we have right now for you. You're under the same ruling as Danny, at least to the Guys in White, so until someone can figure out how to get those loose cannons tied down and the Anti-Ecto regulations not affecting my son, you're staying here with us."

"At the moment, we're just trying to develop an inhibitor mechanism so that any cursory scans of the household will prevent you from showing up as half-ghost."

Vlad craned his head up slightly to look at Maddie. "If you two are so annoyed by this whole half-ghost thing, why isn't young Daniel here?"

"Unlike our son, _Vladimir_," Maddie spat, "you have actually made efforts to harm this family. Danny has done nothing wrong in the time he's had his powers, and we made sure that he had a way out of this mess should anyone come after him."

"Mom!" Jazz shouted as she bolted down the stairs, stopping only for a moment as her eyes fell on Vlad. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she quickly ran over to one of the monitors around the lab and turned on the local news channel.

"_This is Tiffany Snow, Action News Four, with breaking news. Nearly a week after local resident Daniel Fenton revealed himself as the spectral defender, Danny Phantom, the Canadian Parliament has approved Attorney Hethron's motion to grant Danny Phantom political asylum. Incoming news reports indicate that the asylum has been sanctioned until the efforts of the rogue group, the Guys in White, are stopped, and new anti-ecto legislation is brought before Congress. We now take you live to Minnesota's Capitol building. Lance, how's everything going?"_

The screen changed to Lance Thunder, mumbling something about something not being in the job description, standing amidst a throng of reporters and Phantom supporters. _"Hello, Tiffany."_ He said, noticing that the camera was rolling. _"Just moments after the reports came in of the approval for political asylum for Danny Phantom, Governor Varshfeld called for a press conference with no definitive reason given to the press …and here's the Governor now."_ Lance directed the camera towards the stage, and the image zoomed in on an older gentleman, the first of his gray hairs starting to show, as he scanned the crowd before him.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, people of the state of Minnesota, it was brought to my attention earlier this week that a resident of this state had, through a mere accident, become something more than just human. While his condition has made him a hero within his town, and a protector against forces of another world, the government agency of the United States, known as the Guys in White, have attacked this young man and his family, for nothing more than the fact that they perceived him as nothing but another ghost among the throngs of spirits roaming this world. With the evidence brought to light in recent days of the true ramifications of Daniel Fenton's condition, people around the world have decried the actions of this now-rogue group and called for the safe return of Daniel Fenton, a.k.a. Danny Phantom, to where he belongs – safe at home with his parents._

"_In the long history of this nation, there have been times when differences and dissention have separated us, thoughts that ring true for one people, yet not so for another. I stand here today, seeing that same division cutting between us again, and I will not stand for it. Never should the laws of our country so violently tear apart a family, especially when the wanted individual has done nothing to place them in the wrong. It is shameful that, in trying to bring light and truth into his young life, to show the world he meant no harm, that his family had to go so far as to attain him safe passage out of this country, and that they had to physically restrain the GIW agents from abducting their son in the middle of the night._

"_It has been further brought to my attention that research has been going on for years to prove that there is something that happens to people who are brought near death, and in the discovery of young Daniel Fenton and his unique traits, the proof is finally there that anyone who has ever been near death and survived to tell of it has become, in some way, part ghost. Due to this, however, anyone as such is recognized, despite their status as living citizens of the United States, as dangerous and rogue ectoplasmic entities under the Federal Anti-Ecto Act. With this in mind, the state of Minnesota will no longer tolerate the hunting or illegal detainment of American citizens under such regulations. From this day forth, any person or persons who act under the banner of the current anti-ectoplasmic legislation to apprehend a citizen of this state will be considered vigilante and any detainments will be cause for arrest under the charges of felony kidnapping._

"_It is my hope that the governmental officials of the remaining 49 states will join us in this endeavor, pushing for the reformation of any and all state and federal ectoplasmic control legislation to protect those individuals who currently fall under the blanket laws of the Anti-Ecto Act._

"_Danny Phantom, wherever you are at this moment, I wish you the best of luck in staying safe, wishes for your swift and secure return home to your family, and a heartfelt thanks for having the courage to stand up against such enormous odds and unfair laws."_

With a resounding chorus of screams and whoops, the gathered supporters of Danny Phantom pumped their fists in the air, their cries of elation drowning out any other sounds.

- - - - -

With the clatter of metal against ceramic and a soft sploosh, Danny's spoon fell into the mostly-empty bowl of clam chowder he'd been eating, having just seen the recording of Governor Varshfeld's speech.

"Well, things are falling into place in quick succession now," Yolanda noted, the news anchor now discussing the last-minute Congressional move before they'd recessed for the night, led by the Minnesota representatives, to rewrite the Federal Anti-Ecto Act to reflect the findings that had begun with Danny.

"I don't believe it. All this time, I thought that it was just Mom's little group of college buddies that were working for me, and then Sam and her internet groups, but this…I never expected anything of this magnitude."

"Well, when change need to be made, those who believe in that change are generally quick to act and quicker still in making sure that those who are abused by whatever regulations are kept safe. I'm just surprised that the governor would be able to make this announcement the same day that your asylum was granted by the Canadian government."

"Speaking of which, I should be getting along sometime today, huh?"

Yolanda nodded. "Unfortunately, the GIW is still on the prowl, and it would be in your best interests for now to continue on. I would, however, advocate you staying as high as you can fly and getting straight to the Canadian border so that you can get across and into safety."

"You want me to jump all the other locations I was supposed to stop?"

Yolanda shook her head. "No. Your mother sent me an email today, which was pretty risky on her part, seeing as the GIW may very well be tracing or tracking any communications from your house, but she wants you to head straight for Amelia's, now that everything is taken care of on her end."

"Well, if that's the case…" Danny said, standing and taking his now-empty bowl and placing it in the sink, "I'm going to go say goodbye to Olivia. Hopefully, I can come back soon. She's a very energetic kid, and I don't mind spending time with her."

Yolanda stood and embraced Danny. "I'll see you around, Danny Phantom."

- - - - -

Taking to the air, Danny coasted upward until he felt the lightheadedness start to touch upon his mind, and he lowered his altitude a few hundred feet. Coasting along in the chilled, oxygen-deprived air miles above land, he closed his eyes for a moment, caught within the sheer thrill of his powers.

Hours later, realizing that he was only a short distance away from his promised protection with Amelia, a single thought tore through his calm mind at that moment, a message from over a week ago rocketing through his brain. _"Some granda powerful being got out, ruined okcidento flugilo of the prison, set dudek fantomoj libera."_

Screaming to a halt, Danny suddenly realized that, in the time he had spent running, there was a ghost out there that had managed to not only escape Walker's prison, but was very likely running rampant somewhere in the human world. Feeling suddenly guilty that he'd never bothered to let his family know about the issue, he switched off the GPS on his wrist, aiming straight down and not caring where he landed. His only concern now was to find a telephone and get in touch with his family to let them know. Hopefully, it wasn't too late.

- - - - -

The sound of a ringing phone met Maddie's ears, and she headed up the stairs to grab the cordless from the kitchen charger. "Hello?" she asked, not recognizing the number on the caller ID.

"Mom!" came a panicked voice from the other end of the line.

"Danny, what are you doing? This is still a U.S. number you're calling from!"

"I know, Mom, and I was on my way to Amelia's when I realized that I hadn't warned you…"

Maddie's breath hitched in her throat. "Warned us of what?" she finally managed. "And where are you?"

"If I'm any good at geography, somewhere in Vermont. I had to get to a pay phone – anyway, what I needed to tell you was that a friend of mine from the Ghost Zone let me know that there had been an escape from the Zone's jail. Some really powerful ghost managed to get out, and he did some serious damage on the way out. I just figured that you should know ahead of time, in the event that the ghost finds a portal out to our…Hey, what are you doing?" Danny asked, his voice growing distant.

Maddie figured that he had pulled away from the receiver, but the scream of pain that followed his question told her otherwise. Wherever it had been that Danny was, the GIW seemed to have been able to track him down, and the sounds coming from the other end of the line were enough to make her heart break. Hanging up the phone, she couldn't help the anguished cry that escaped her lips, and she crumpled to the floor.

Jack, having heard her outburst, tore up the stairs to find her collapsed on the floor. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"They've got him," was all she could manage between her tears.

- - - - -

From the bushes near the phone, a small pair of ghostly eyes watched as Danny was caught in the back by an ecto-shock dart, soon followed by the glowing fist of an individual in a pristine white outfit. Snarling lowly, he darted away from the scene, his canine mind still aware enough that he had to find help…and he knew just the spook to look for.

- - - - -

A piercing howl cut through the afternoon air, Maddie, Jack, Sam, Tucker and Jazz all on their feet instantly, the elder Fentons reaching for the ecto-pistols holstered on their hips as a black and green blur phazed through the front wall of the house.

"Ili kaptis Danny!" the lupine ghost howled, a small green dog close behind, yipping playfully as he ran in circles, attempting in vain to capture his own tail. "La blankostuma kaptis Danny! Cujo vidis ilin!"

"Slow down, Wulf," Sam said, cautiously approaching the beast. "Kvieto suben, Wulf. Kie estis vi kiam ili prenis lin?"

Wulf looked down towards his paws, growling low as he struggled to remember the words on the sign near where Cujo had led him. "Mi ne faras memori. Mi not read Angla bone."

"Enlagidas vi literumi la nomo?"

Wulf's ears pressed against his head, silently apologizing for what he was about to do, a single sharp claw sliding out from his paw, and he scratched the tabletop gently, slowly recalling the name from memory. When he finally finished, he stepped back, and everyone saw, in plain sight, 'Burlington'.


	6. Roku

**Disclaimer:** _Danny Phantom_ and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc.

* * *

**チプターロク**

Danny sat quietly in his cell, hands and legs bound tightly together by glowing metal cuffs. Nearly sixteen hours ago, he'd been dragged into a nondescript white van, blindfolded and gagged, a searing wildfire coursing through his veins. Since then, the teenager had been poked, prodded, studied and beaten more times than he cared to count, and he knew that beneath the tattered and dirty clothes he now wore, his body was a minefield of bruises. He was beyond thankful for his ghostly powers not being completely contained by the bindings, as his healing factor was working as quickly as possible to repair not only the bruised flesh, but the three broken ribs and dislocated shoulder that had been a welcoming gift from the Guys in White.

Despite his begging for them to understand that he was still as human as any of them, nearly a dozen agents had opened up fire upon him, meager shields brought up against the strikes, unseen as Danny was only able to develop the ectoplasmic barrier directly on his skin. While none of the shots had hit home, a fact that had left the agents struggling to explain how he wasn't more damaged by their weapons, the shields had not stopped the bruising, and he'd fallen over at the last shot, his shield catching the blast so roughly that Danny had been able to _hear _his ribs break, worried that it would only take a few seconds more, another powerful blast, before one of the broken bones would pierce his lung, or worse still, his heart. By whatever graceful being that existed, they had chosen to drag him off to a holding cell, and he smiled despite the pain as he felt his systems begin to pull the bones back into place, setting them before encouraging his body's natural healing factor to pick up the pace.

Stretching as much as he could in the small room, Danny laid back on the cot, the only adornment to the otherwise barren room. His eyes drifted aimlessly over the ceiling, and he cursed his lack of caution once more, wondering how he'd been so _stupid_ as to land in American territory, knowing all the work that had been done to get him to safe lands had been ruined. Worse still, he was unaware of whether or not his mother had been able to make any sense of his message, hoping that there was some defense being mounted in the event the entity turned to Amity Park.

- - - - -

The first thing Maddie had done when Danny's location had been provided was to get in touch with the Burlington Police Department, alerting them to the fact that Danny had, indeed, been in their city and had been arrested by rogue G.I.W. agents. As soon as Maddie had hung up the phone, she found Tucker and Sam busy on their laptops, posting the alert about Danny's capture all over the web, and Jazz was pacing the living room, her eyes intensely focused, as if she was staring at something far in the distance.

Stopping suddenly and startling everyone with a swift snap of her fingers, Jazz looked to her mother. "Mom, is there any way to download information from our gear? The Boomerang is keyed into Danny's ecto-signature, so shouldn't we be able to use that to get a lock on where he is?"  
"We'd have his ecto-signature even without the Boomerang," Maddie informed her, "but I hadn't thought about that." Turning, she bounded downstairs into the lab, where both Jack and Vlad were busying themselves working on pieces of Fenton gadgetry. Though Vlad had been released from his earlier confinement on the table, he now wore a thick metallic wristband on each arm, the small devices not only working to mask his ecto-signature, but also keyed into a security mechanism. Should he attempt either to leave the house, either as a human or by, as Danny had called it, 'going ghost', the house's safety protocols would activate the building's shielding, preventing his escape. "Jack, I need you and Vlad to get the data from the Boomerang. Pull Danny's ecto-signature information, and see what you can do about getting the specs up for trackers that don't involve us chucking hunks of metal."

"What's wrong with the Boomerang?"

"Jack, the last time we used it in Danny's vicinity, it whacked him upside the head _twice_," Maddie sighed. "All I want to do is make it so that the police can track Danny with more than just the canine units."

"Got'cha, sweet cakes," Jack called out, reaching under one of the desks and pulling out a large sheet of blueprint paper. As he and Vlad bent over the design sheet, Maddie couldn't help the smile that rose on her face. Even all these years later, and with the animosity Vlad held towards Jack, the two of them were still able to fall into the old rhythm of their college days, the occasional bickering over a difference in design still able to give rise to another piece of ghost hunting technology.

Sighing, Maddie made it about halfway up the stairs before she slid down against the steps, resting her head in her hands. Knowing the numerous atrocities over-zealous ghost hunters were capable of, worse yet for them being of a governmental division, she could only pray that whatever they were doing to Danny, his impressive healing factor was enough to keep him alive.

- - - - -

Sam clicked the button in the bottom corner of her screen, publishing the latest update to the third site she had started, and groaned as her task bar popped into view, still another messenger window popping up. Clicking the icon, she typed quickly, seeking to find the reason for the message.

_**Native to the area**_, it read. _**Cops are already looking for Danny and for any sign of where they took him. Overheard someone say there were tire marks from a vehicle near the phone where he got nabbed.**_

Sam quickly typed back,_** Keep me informed and thanks for the update. If we figure out anything on this end, I'll need you to get in touch with the police.**_

_**Okay,**_ it returned moments later before the user signed off, Sam saving the contact information.

"You doing okay?" Tucker said, leaning over Sam's shoulder.

Sam nodded slowly. "I still have two of the sites to update, but I'm nowhere near done with the main page articles. Had I thought about this without being panicked about Danny, I might have just had the one site up. I mean, it's not like the national and international access is any different, and it's all involving the same case data."

Tucker leaned a bit further down, wrapping his arms around Sam. "How's about you go upstairs and rest? I'll start sending messages around on the sites that you're shutting down all but one and condensing everything there. It should take a couple of hours, so just relax."

"How am I supposed to…" Sam began, cut off as Tucker held up a finger.

"You're doing no one any good pushing yourself past your limit." Pulling her away from the computer she had been all _but_ wired into, he pushed her towards the stairs. "Go lay down. Even if you don't actually fall asleep, just try to rest. I'll let you know when I've gotten the sites cleaned up."

Sam begrudgingly complied, pulling herself up the stairs, not so much straining with the effort, but rather, fighting against the urge to continue her work. Reaching the top stair, she turned to head towards the ops center, stopping short as she reached Danny's door, dotted with various space program paraphernalia, and reached out to touch the knob. Twisting it, she pushed her way into the room, and despite some part of her mind screaming at her to get back to her responsibilities, she kicked off her heavy boots and crawled over the covers, burying herself into the soft sheets and pillow, reality soon peeled away by the black emptiness of unconsciousness.

- - - - -

One thing Tucker had to admire was Sam's drive, although he really was left wondering what had spawned these sites. While well-organized, each of them had overlays of information that could very well have been avoided had she only had the single site, and he shook his head once more as he posted a main page notice that the site was being condensed with the others at the primary site.

Closing down the window after he'd pulled the information and files from that site, he loaded the data into the main site, re-organizing the data under the different headers. Highlighting one of the menus, he switched from the medical and genetic data for Danny page to the legal page, adding in the latest news on his case, as well as the audio recording of the governor's speech. Rubbing at his temples, he started sorting through Sam's notes, digital as well as the ones that were spilled across the coffee table, and wondered exactly where to begin on her newest documents.

"Sometimes, I wonder what I'm willing to get myself into," he said softly.

- - - - -

"Jack, how in blazes do you expect this to work? I can understand using GPS data, but what is that going to do in terms of an ecto-signature? GPS technology can't work with that kind of program, not without someone going into space and doing some _massive_ modifications to the satellites."

Maddie walked down the stairs at the sound of Vlad's outburst, wondering what had just crossed her husband's mind. If he'd been tinkering with something for their tracking device, she didn't have a clue as to what it would have to do with GPS technology.

"Vladdie, I'm not using this to find Danny's signature," Jack returned. "I'm trying to hotwire this," he said, pointing to a small remote next to their blueprints, "to activate the homing beacon in Danny's little watch thingie. Maddie gave it to him so that he could use it as a map so he knew where to go when he ran, but there's a beacon on all of the Fenton tech. Problem is, to keep those GIW goons from nabbing him, we had to shut it down when we gave him the watch. Now, if I can just hotwire this, it will send an activation signal through all of the GPS relay satellites and remotely start the beacon."

Maddie couldn't help the teary smile that came to her face.

- - - - -

A knock sounded on the door, and Sam grunted slightly as she shifted against the pillows, straining to stay within the blessed blackness. Another knock woke her further, and she swore under her breath. "What?!" she called out, obviously frustrated at having been woken.

"Sam," a gruff voice called, "tie estis a telefone."

Groaning, Sam pushed herself up from the mattress, wondering what Wulf had meant by there being a telephone before her brain kicked back the stress he'd placed on the end of the word. Pushing herself from the bed, she headed downstairs, wondering what call had come in that Wulf had sounded upbeat about it.

"They found the vehicle that was used," Maddie said before Sam even had a chance to ask. "They think the GIW abandoned it a good distance from the base they're using to keep from being found, but they've got the canine units on site."

"But they haven't found him yet?" Sam asked, her voice faltering.

Maddie shook her head softly.

"Wulf!" Sam called back up the stairs to the lupine specter curled in front of Danny's door. "Prenu Cujo kaj laboru kun la policano." Writing her cell phone number down on a piece of paper, she handed it over to the ghost. "Mia ĉela telefonombro. Havu ilin telephoni min."

"Mi bezonas lerni angla," Wulf said with a low growl. "Mi malamas bezonadi tradukiston." A gruff bark worked its way from his mouth, and Cujo came bounding through the wall leading to the back yard. Wulf grabbed the small dog by his collar before tucking him into the crook of his arm, his claws carving a hole into the Zone mere seconds before the two canines were gone.

"What was that last part about needing a translator?" Tucker asked.

"I think Wulf's getting tired of us having to translate for him," Sam replied, "but I don't think he really minds it. After all, he's more comfortable speaking it than even we are."

Tucker smiled. "You don't make a half-bad nerd, though," to which Sam replied by hitting him over the head with a throw pillow.

"Prenas tiu reen," Sam ordered.

"Vi pensas insultado min faros min ĉesu?" Tucker answered back with a cocky smirk.

"Anusulo," Sam swore.

- - - - -

True to form, the officers that had called Sam's cell phone had been extremely surprised, if not a bit scared, by the werewolf that had sprung, seemingly, out of nowhere near their search site. The canines they'd called in flocked to the newcomer, as well as his ghostly compatriot, and the huddle of dog began a slow chorus of barks and yips, all of which threw the police for a bit of a loop.

One officer had taken a bit of paper from the wolf, and had promptly called the number, discovering from Sam that Wulf and Cujo were probably the two best-suited noses for the job of finding Danny, and let the officer know that if something came up and Wulf started talking, to give her a call. She'd had to explain Wulf's language nuance, but was soon off the phone, leaning over Tucker's shoulder. "How's it coming along?"

"One more site to take down, and we're all good. You want to get started on that article you were talking about or not? I would have attempted it, but Lord knows I'm no good at essays and such."

Sam smiled despite herself at the comment, dropping onto the couch next to Tucker and swiping her computer from him. "You can use your computer for the rest of the work. I'll give you the passwords and such when you get there, but I want to get another few articles up and ready for posting. Any IMs while I was sleeping?"

"No," Tucker said, "but I haven't been checking your messenger to make sure you're still online. I was figuring you were as long as I was working on the sites."

Sam shrugged as she opened up a new document window, her fingers dancing effortlessly over the keyboard.

- - - - -

"You have been a thorn in our sides for far too long," the agent said, Danny cringing pitifully in the far corner of his holding cell. "After all, someone like you shouldn't be so able to just run around as you see fit. You're far too dangerous."

The second agent in the room turned to Danny, a sick smile on his face. "We just didn't think that it was going to be so easy to get you. After all, it was just a simple probe we sent into the Zone. When the warden picked it up, we had no choice but to detonate it, but knowing you, it would have been reason enough for you to be worried."

Danny's eyes went wide. "You mean that there was no ghost involved in that?"

"Not a one," the first agent quipped. "Just a good bit of heavy ecto-explosives."

Curling his legs up to his chest, the restraints biting into his wrists, Danny buried himself into the corner. It had all been chance that Wulf's warning had come to him in those last few minutes, and he knew he should have waited to make the call. After all, he'd been running for a week; what were a few more hours? No ghost had attacked, but he had risked everything in landing within the United States, and he was now suffering for it. "So, even with everyone against you, and the very government you work for abandoning you, you still felt it necessary to mess with me? Do you _realize_ how much…"

Anything that would have followed was cut off as the second agent stormed over to Danny, his fist impacting hard on the hybrid's skull, jarring his brain. A second hit followed, this time in the gut, and powered with a slight ecto-charge, and Danny realized that the black gloves the agent was wearing served more purpose than just contrasting against his uniform. Another charged strike caught him in the jaw, and he tumbled from the cot he'd been on, closing his mouth in a vain attempt to stifle the blood flowing from where the agent had knocked a tooth out, willing his powers to heal the damage. As a painful kick caught him in his freshly-healed ribs, he cried out, a mix of green and red fluid dripping from his mouth. "Why are you doing this?" he cried out.

"It's been hard enough hunting you because of all the problems we've had, especially with the U.N., but we are not about to sit here and let you keep trying to convince us that you're anything more than a putrid pile of protoplasmic excrement. Whatever it is that you've been trying to do in Amity Park, it's over now. The last thing this world needs is a ghost of _any _caliber getting a foothold. Next thing you know, there might be twenty of you, all around the world, trying to hold this world prisoner to whatever plans you may have."

"I'm not that kind of ghost," Danny responded, pushing himself to his feet. "Not all of us want domination. Some of us…" Another punch winded him, sending him back to the floor.

"Don't try to tell us what we're supposed to think, spook," the agent said, cracking his knuckles. "We know how ghosts operate, so trying to lie to us isn't going to get you anywhere."

"It's only what you _think_ you know," Danny spat back. "You never bothered to actually get the facts straight. I can tell that much from how ignorant you sound." Grimacing, he braced himself for the next hit, shocked as the agent wrapped a meaty hand around his neck and constricted.

"Rather than trying to save yourself with whatever mindless stupidity you think we'll listen to," the agent sneered, tossing Danny harshly back onto the cot, his head impacting against the wall with a sickening crack, "how's about you stop trying to pretend you're human?"

Danny was silently thankful that he had started to black out, wondering if the skull fracture he'd just received would be enough to actually kill him. Part of him hoped it would, if only to get away from the pain they'd been causing. The rest of him, however, reached within for the power of his ghost half, hurriedly rushing to undo the damage he'd suffered.

- - - - -

"Any idea why it is that he can't drop that ridiculous cloaking?" the agent asked, watching the video feed from Danny's cell as the youth flopped over on the cot, apparently having been knocked into unconsciousness. "And what's with this? A scale seven shouldn't be so easily dropped."

_Maybe he really _is_ half-human,_ the agent sitting at the console thought, but knew better than to answer. "I don't know, sir, but we're doing our very best to find out."

"Well, stop sitting on your…" he began, cut off as a wild howl sounded through the facility. Turning, both agents only had a few seconds to register the form of a large dog at the main entrance before the uniformed officers began streaming in, guns raised and orders of "Get on the ground now!" echoing through the building. Reaching down, the agent hit a small button beneath the video display just before the howling beast pounced on him.

* * *

For anyone who cares, I have cut back on Wulf's use of English a LOT in this story from the original Drabble, but that was completely intentional. I wanted to make it seem as if the only person Wulf is ever secure enough to attempt English around is Danny, which is why you see so much more Esperanto in his dialogue now.

Oh, and though I would have liked to have released this whole story as complete in one go, I got a little hung up with the final chapter, so until I get the all-clear from my beta, Chapter Seven is going to be on hold. It shouldn't take more than a few days, though, to get this cleared up and the story complete.


	7. Shichi

**Disclaimer:** _Danny Phantom_ and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc.

* * *

Yeah, yeah, I know I said a week before this was done. The dogfighting took forever to get right.

* * *

**チプターシチ**

Picking up the unconscious specter, the first agent booted the door open, running out of the door and down the hallway. Only moments before, the silent alarm had sounded, their commlinks beeping with the emergency order to get Danny Phantom to a more secure facility.

As it was, it was a secondary facility they'd holed up in after catching the ghost kid, one that only had a single ghost shield that passed over the entirety of the surface level of the building. The underground levels, including the one they'd been holding Danny on, were completely naked to any encroaching ecto-entities, so it was imperative they get him out of the location as soon as possible. And, for that matter, as quietly as possible.

- - - - -

"He said the thing you found belonged to Danny," Sam relayed over the phone. "He says that wherever it was that they went, he lost their trail when you hit the room at the end of the hall, although he says that the room smells heavily of fuel, so it likely means they used some sort of rocket-propelled vehicle to get out of there. My guess would be either their fighter jets or their jetpacks, though I'd hazard a guess at the second if no one heard or saw them leaving. They've got cloaking devices, but I don't know if they'd mask the sound of a jet taking off." Sam paused for a minute, listening to the officer on the other end of the line. "I don't know, but I'd make a passing guess at either a really recent model or governmental prototype Lockheed jet, from the way they're built. The paint job is mostly white, go figure, but past that, I'm not really sure." There was more chatter on the other end before the officer bid her farewell. Clicking her phone shut, Sam sighed heavily.

"So what was that about?" Tucker asked.

"They lost Danny. Apparently, someone got word to the agents holding him to evacuate, and they got out of there. However they managed it, they're airborne."

"So they were asking for the model of the planes they fly?" Tucker asked.

Sam nodded. "I've seen something like them, but not exactly."

"I'm impressed to know one of the fighter jet manufacturers," Tucker stated, "but you were off. While Lockheed-Martin is behind a number of planes used by U.S. forces, the GIW is busy flying Northrop F-20 Tigersharks. Knowing how easy it is to work with that particular plane, it's quite likely that they've found a way to muffle the noise of the fighter's engines, though I haven't the foggiest idea of _how_, let along where they got them. Last I heard, there were only three or four ever _made_."

"How in the heck…?" Jazz asked.

"I get bored easily, so I make up for it by web-surfing. I found images of a bunch of different fighter jets and compared them against the few shots I got from some of the videos during the search for Danny back when Vlad had that bounty on his head. Almost a perfect match, save for the modifications, though I'm just as confused as the next guy as to _what_ they're supposed to do."

"Well, the FAA has all air traffic shutting down across the nation," Maddie said, coming up from the basement. "Seems that whatever just happened, they want to make sure there're only military planes in the air until they find the plane that Danny's on, or at least, find out where they've landed."

"Military?!" Sam exclaimed. "They're going to shoot him down?!"

"Not from what I just heard," Maddie said, resting her hands on Sam's shoulders. "They're scrambling every fighter pilot that's State-side to find him, and they're planning to escort the GIW plane down." What Maddie failed to tell them about the conversation she'd had with the FBI agent she'd spoken with was the blood they had found in Danny's cell. While not a high amount, it had still alerted her to the fact that they had been rough with her son, and she feared to think how damaged they'd left her son.

- - - - -

Groaning in pain, Danny rolled onto his back, immediately regretting the motion as whatever wounds the agents had inflicted screamed, and a hissed breath escaped through clenched teeth. Trying to maneuver into a sitting position, he found that the cuffs were still tightly bound against his limbs, keeping him from both freedom and the strength of his ghost powers. Well, not _all _of his ghost powers…

Closing his eyes, he willed the minor change, his once-blue eyes now luminescent and lighting up the area he was in with a haunting green glow. Groaning again, he wondered when, exactly, they'd managed to create any space for holding people in their fighter jets. Aside from the cockpit, he couldn't think how they'd managed to…wait, scratch that. As awkwardly as he was positioned, he had to be in a transport container, and just as likely magnetically stuck to the underbelly of the craft. _Great_, he thought, _just great_.

Reaching up, he let his fingers skim over the area where his head had impacted against the wall, and when he felt only a slight twinge of pain, he realized that, despite the wave of unconsciousness that had swept over him, his powers had been able to react fast enough to prevent any permanent damage. It would also explain why it was that nothing else had had time enough to heal.

- - - - -

"Maddie!" Vlad exclaimed as he crested the last stair, skidding into an undignified lump on the opposite side of the kitchen. "Ah, sugar cookies!" he exclaimed, pushing himself to his feet. "Maddie, we got the tracker finished!"

"Please tell me you're referring to the one with Danny's ecto-signature," she said, exasperation clear in her voice.

Vlad shook his head. "No. Jack's still busy with that one." He handed over the small piece of tech, a small smile gracing his face. "I just hope that this can help. I've got another two dozen that are almost done so that we can get these things around to where they need to be."

"Sam," Maddie ordered, "get on the phone with the police and make sure they send Wulf back." Leaning over, she popped her spine with a grunt, only starting to notice how sore she'd become, and wondering how long it had been since she'd seen the inside of her eyelids for more than two seconds. Grabbing the phone, she dialed the number that had popped up when the FBI agent had called her.

"Agent Landeirs, this is Maddie Fenton. You're going to need to recall those jets in a little while. We're sending a messenger with the gear to track our son, and it might be in your best interests for the pilots to have them."

- - - - -

Despite the criticality of the situation, an hour had been lost finishing the last of the trackers and getting all of the planes onto whatever landing strips they had been nearest to, and another forty-five minutes to Wulf's half-blind jumps through the dimensions, guided by Tucker and the grace of online maps. As soon as the two dozen pilots had been given their trackers, they were airborne again, moving through the skies in a desperate attempt to find the Phantom kid.

A sudden bleep alerted one pilot, and he looked down at his instrument panel, wondering where the sound had come from, and realized after a moment of confusion that it had been the small item the lupine specter had given him. "This is Viper Three-Seven. I think I've got an idea of where the kid is." Relaying his current coordinates, as well as his heading once he'd veered off in the direction of the tracker's ping, the pilot rocketed towards the location of the Phantom child on full throttle.

- - - - -

Four other fighters had vectored off of their original flight paths when Danny's location had been confirmed, the remaining pilots heading back towards their bases.

"Viper Three-Seven," came a call over the radio, "take point with Phantom Squadron, and change call signs."

"Copy that," the pilot called. "Phantom One out."

Moving into a tight V-formation, five shimmering metal beasts soaring through the skies, the planes continued on towards their target, and within moments, two white planes came into view, and one of the pilots said something under his breath.

"Base, this is Phantom One. Target is in visual range, and it looks like they've got the kid on board an Osprey."

"Copy that, Phantom One. Do not engage, repeat do _not _engage."

"Copy, base," the pilot returned. "Awaiting further orders, over."

The agent on board the plane that was holding Danny swore under his breath as the sensory array on the plane alerted him to the presence of the five fighter jets. "We've got a tail. Initiate White Dragon attack protocol."

"Copy that," the agent responded, giving his partner a wide berth as he turned his plane around, bringing the weapon systems online.

"Phantom One, we've got a weapons lock," one pilot called out.

The pilot watched as the Tigershark veered around. "Phantom Three, Four and Five, vector off and draw that plane away from populated areas. Try to get him to land, and do not engage. Phantom Two, form up on my three."

"Looks like they're going to try and guide you down," the agent in the Tigershark called.

"Too bad for them, I don't feel like landing. Draw off as much of their fire as you can."

"They're already breaking formation. Three are taking up position against you."

The agent on board the larger plane smirked. "Good."

- - - - -

The agent on board the sleeker plane swore heavily once he'd flipped his mike off, wondering how he was supposed to out-fly three Raptors. They had speed, agility, and combat capabilities all on their side, and he hoped that the modifications made to the plane actually helped.

"C'mon, you sons of…fire on me already," he said, watching as the trio of planes locked in on his position.

Closer still the Raptors came, and the agent growled as he jerked the plane hard to the right, moving closer to the ground. Visually scanning the area, he resisted the urge to punch his instrument panel. There was a good deal of distance to cover before he'd be able to hit a heavily-populated area, which would have been more than enough to get the military dogs off of his tail. Flipping the yoke back, he veered back around, and waited until he could confirm a lock on the lead plane.

"Do not engage," Phantom Three called out as the white plane banked around. "He's likely trying to get us to fire."

"Copy that," the other two pilots called.

"C'mon, shoot me," the agent said, losing the cool that the Guys In White so prided themselves upon. "Fire, you…" His curse was lost in the wind as he was forced to bank lower still to avoid crashing into the planes. While destroying them would have proven beneficial, his partner was still going to need him when they moved the ghost into the main facility they were headed for.

"Phantom Squadron, back around," Phantom Three called, "and on my three and nine," the two pilots bringing themselves alongside the main plane. "We've got to keep him away from populated areas at all costs.

"Phantom Three, wouldn't it be a better idea to form up on _his_ three and nine and see if we can't get him down?"

The pilot thought about the suggestion for a moment. "Alright, on his three and nine, and get him down onto a road somewhere."

- - - - -

The agent onboard the Osprey flipped the control switch on the weapons system, watching the displays as the Raptors once more had to circle around to stay on his tail. "Well, you've seen the plane, so now let's show you what the government can _do_ with it when they actually _try_."

Panels along the top of the Osprey slid open, and a set of half a dozen mounted guns rose from the plane. Another panel revealed a missile erector launcher. "Now, good sirs, let's see what your fancy planes can handle."

The six guns opened fire, and the Raptors were quick to evade, their speed quickly carrying them out of range of the guns, and the agent toggled another switch. The missile launcher rose further from the back of the plane, turning around, and once the system confirmed a lock on the planes, two missiles were sent screaming out of their launch tubes.

Eyes scanning the skies, a visual array popped up from one of the nearby control panels, and the agent watched the external cameras zoom in on the two fighter jets, and he punched the console as the Raptors swerved clear of the missiles at the last minute, the explosive charges detonating against the deployed countermeasures.

"What the hell were those?" Phantom Two cried out.

"Not sure," Phantom One answered.

- - - - -

Danny looked around in mild panic as he heard the sound of gunfire around him, and he was sure his heart stopped for a minute when he heard the hiss of a missile being fired. Kicking fiercely against the container he was in, he groaned as the reality hit him of how entirely screwed he was, hoping that, for all the ammo he heard the plane he was in dumping, whoever they were shooting _at_ didn't get the genius idea to shoot back.

- - - - -

Phantom One swerved again, clear for a moment from the firing range of the Osprey. _How in blazes did they retrofit that thing? _he thought. "Phantom One to base, requesting permission to open fire on the target ship."

"Phantom One, need I remind you that the kid is on board that plane?"

"Base, I'm not going for a kill. I'm going to try to fry the controls on the Osprey, force a landing."

The radio went silent for a moment before Phantom Five's voice cut in. "Phantom Four is down, repeat, Phantom Four is down. Requesting permission to engage."

- - - - -

However they had managed to rig their planes, Phantom Four found out too late just how dangerous the rogue agency was, the cannons on the Tigershark's right wing turned on their mounts, and he had barely ejected in time as the bullets fired simultaneously detonated one of the Sidewinder missiles on his wing and the fuel tank, and the plane quickly turned into a massive fireball.

"Phantom Five," the officer at base called out, "is Phantom Four okay?"

"Affirmative, sir. Phantom Four ejected before the plane blew. I think the blast might have cooked his radio because he's not responding to my hail, but I'm getting a recovery beacon signal."

"We'll send a team. Keep on that pilot, and permission granted. Engage targets, but try to cripple them. They've got a lot to answer for, and they need to be alive to do so."

"Copy that, base. Phantom Four out."

"Base, this is Phantom Three, falling back. I need a payload change."

The officer furled his brow. "Phantom Three, explain."

"There's only one way I can think to bring down that Tigershark, and I'm going to need a NNEMP Sidewinder to pull that off. I just need coordinates to a base carrying one."

"Phantom Three, those Sidewinders are still in the prototype stage."

"I realize that, Base, but we don't have much of a choice. The GIW agent is aiming to get over populated land."

Reroute coordinates were given, and the pilot veered off. "Phantom Four, keep on him."

- - - - -

"Phantom Two," the lead pilot called, finally having figured out a way to get the Osprey safely out of the air, "form up on my nine and target aft of the left rotor."

"We're going to force a coast landing?"

"I've heard enough of these guys to figure they've got a machine controlling the Osprey. Their computers should be enough to guide it down, even without its rotors. It's risky, especially with the kid on board, but it's all we've got."

"If that's the plan…" Phantom Two said, "there's a bit of open land about twelve miles east of here."

"Get ahead of the Osprey then, try to goad him to follow. I'll watch your six, keep whatever those missiles are from hitting you."

"Copy that." The Raptor at Phantom One's wing cut ahead, dropping almost directly in front of the Osprey and banking to the right, and Phantom One locked his guidance systems on the two remaining missiles in the launcher, hoping that the agent wouldn't think that the other pilot was baiting him.

The agent, however, thought just that, and another missile slid from the launcher.

"Phantom One, Fox Two," he called, one of his Sidewinders fixed on the unidentified explosive, and the other pilot veered off-course to get clear of the blast. Phantom One watched, fearful, as the GIW missile turned towards his partner, exhaling slowly as his fired missile impacted against it as it turned. Moments later, the last of the GIW's ammo shot forward, and the explosion was far too close to the other Raptor for Phantom One's comfort.

"Phantom One," the pilot called out, "I'm hit. Lost main stabilizers, and my engines are stuttering."

"You able to land, Phantom Two?"

"I'm going to try."

"Base, this is Phantom One. I'm not going to be able to drop the Osprey by myself. Is there anyone who can wing me?"

"No one nearby, Phantom One. Phantom Three is back in the air with new payload, so we'll see if Five can vector after the Tigershark gets dropped. Stay on the Osprey, pilot."

"Copy that, and will do, sir."

- - - - -

Phantom Three screamed through the sky, the resounding booms as it hit mach two turning many heads upwards, those who were not watching the plane tuned into local and national news reports. While nothing was confirmed as of yet, there was talk that a number of Air Force planes had been shot down by the rogue GIW pilots, and a rescue effort was being made to save Danny Phantom after their first attempt had ended with the escape of the agents holding him.

Coming up a mile behind the Tigershark and slowing down to cruising speed, the pilot confirmed a lock, whispering a quick prayer that the agent wouldn't have enough countermeasures to screw with the missile's targeting system. "Phantom Three, Fox Two," he called, and the modified Sidewinder lanced out from his wing.

"Phantom Five," the base officer called, relaying the Osprey's coordinates as the pilot responded. "Wing up on Phantom One's three and get that Osprey out of the air."

"Copy that," the pilot responded, getting a beautiful view of the Tigershark as he cut into a sharp turn, watching his partner's missile catch up to the target. As the Sidewinder neared the GIW plane, it detonated just behind it, and the electromagnetic pulse sent a dancing wave of blue-white energy over the ship, Phantom Three's pilot whooping in joy as the engine sputtered and died, the plane starting to tilt forward as it headed for the field beneath.

With the amount of control in the descent, Phantom Three was sure the GIW agent had survived the low-surge EMP, and they relayed the coordinates of the falling plane, and he relaxed as the officer on the radio confirmed that the ground forces were on their way for recovery, and that Phantom Four had been located and was en route to the local hospital for a standard overnight observation.

- - - - -

Phantom Five rolled hard to the left, coming up fluidly next to Phantom One's right wing. "Locking on the right rotor," he relayed.

"Copy, Phantom Five. Confirming lock."

Trailing a good distance behind the Osprey, both their systems flashed green, and they pulled back on the triggers.

"Phantom One, Fox Two."

"Phantom Five, Fox Two."

The pair of Sidewinders arced toward the Osprey, and as the pair exploded, the burning and fragmented remains jammed into the rotor engines, the pair dying out with a sickly whine and a trail of blackened smoke.

"_System error_," the Osprey's computer chirped, and the agent swore under his breath. "_Initiating White Cloud security protocol._"

The agent left the computer bank he was at, letting the mechanical guidance system safely land the plane as he headed back to the cargo hold, pulling his gun from its holster as he went. Despite what the governments were doing against them, he knew that if they couldn't get the ghost to a secure holding facility, he needed to be destroyed.

- - - - -

Lashing out, Danny kicked at the container holding him again, desperately trying to pull some of his ghost form's strength to the surface, but not so much as a simple dent had formed. Exhaling slowly, he finally let his body relax, his legs having started to seize up in his thrashing.

Closing his eyes as something registered in his ears, he listened, troubled by the fact that it sounded like approaching footsteps as the plane shuddered beneath them. He'd long since figured that the plane he was in was a lot bigger than the initial assumption of fighter jet, but as the footstep grew closer and louder still, he realized that it may have well been a coffin they'd put him in.

The agent leaned over the small ecto-containment unit, inputting the security passcode and pulling his gun up to bear as the lid slid open with a hiss. Finger on the trigger, he watched as the boy's eyes widened in shock. "Goodbye, Danny Ph…"

The plane lurched hard to the side, throwing the agent off-balance, and Danny used the momentary diversion to his advantage. Barreling out of the containment unit, he rolled to the agent, coming up, his bound fists connecting with the larger man's chin. A wild shot fired from the pistol, and Danny ducked as it bounced off the far wall before dissipating. Rolling towards the agent as the man finally regained his balance, Danny brought his arms up, the shot firing cleanly through the bindings on his wrists.

"That's some impressive aim," Danny chided as he ducked low again, familiar rings passing over his body as he brought his shields up against the hail of gunfire from the agent. "But mine is better," he boasted, a low-charge blast catching the agent in the gut and knocking him against the bulkhead of the plane, a burst of ice pinning him to the plane. "Here's to hoping your buddy was just as lucky and whoever's gunning for us didn't take him out."

- - - - -

Danny had turned invisible just after the Osprey had shuddered to a stop, hovering near the top of the Osprey as someone outside the ship released the ramp, sunlight spilling into the bay and revealing the angry, still-frozen agent as a number of people in uniform flooded in, guns at the ready.

"Where's the kid?" one of the uniformed officers asked the agent.

"For all I know," the agent spat back, "miles away and blowing the citizens to kingdom come."

"I'm here," Danny called, returning back to the visible plane.

"Danny," another officer called, Danny recognizing the badge of a police officer. "It's alright, son. You can come down."

Danny's eyes flitted to the open ramp bay for a moment. "I'm not about to be someone's guinea pig."

"We're not here for you for that reason," the officer called up. "Your family's been worried sick, and you should see what the websites are looking like since word got out of your capture."

The half-ghost hovered a bit lower. "I just want to go home."

"Then home is where we're taking you."

Transforming back to his human form, Danny landed with a soft thud against the metal floor of the plane, heading out with a few of the officers as the remainder of the military and local authorities disconnected the agent from the plane, handcuffed and taken to a squad car.

- - - - -

The soft chime of a doorbell woke the lupine ghost sleeping on the living room floor, and he crawled towards the door, opening it. A single word woke the rest of the house.

"Amiko!"


End file.
